Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust
by IceQueen2196
Summary: What happens when a girl from Hank's past shows up at the Institute? Who is she really, and why does Jean not trust her? Is it jealousy or something more that makes the telepath mistrust the new girl? And why does Lance know her? Contains ScottxJean, KittyxLance, and EvanxOC. Better summary inside.
1. A Freak Among Freaks

What happens when a girl from Hank McCoy's past appears? A girl Hank used to live next door to, and has kept in touch with, comes to the Institute for a party. When some of her dark secrets are revealed when she falls into a coma, Xavier and Hank decide that keeping her with them is the best idea. But not everyone agrees. Is Jean just jealous of the new girl getting more of Scott's attention than her, or is this girl not what she seems? And why does Lance seem to know her? Contains slight (okay, probably more than slight) ScottxJean, KittyxLance, and EvanxOC. Love ya'll!

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution or any of the characters except Sierra McCaulough, and anyone else I decide to make up. Yeah, I don't own Tinker Bell either (just covering my bases here).

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Hank McCoy stood inside the train station, looking around. He had never realized how many people came and went from Bayville every day. How was he supposed to find Sierra McCaulough, a girl that he hadn't seen in years, when he didn't even look like himself?  
"Mr. McCoy?" a soft voice said behind him. Hank turned to see a figure in black skinny jeans and a black hoodie, with the hood pulled up and their head bowed, so you couldn't see their face.  
"Yes. Ms. McCaulough?" Hank bent to see her better, his "blond" hair falling in his face. The Professor had programmed an image inducer for him, and Hank had always wanted to be blond. The figure in front of him sharply jerked her head, in what Hank realized was a nod. The girl had only a ratty backpack with her as baggage. "It's been too long, my friend," the burly man said, patting her back. He didn't seem to realize his own strength, because she went pitching forward, onto her knees. "Sierra, are you okay?" Hank asked in concern.  
"I'm fine Hank. Now, let's get to that famous Institute of yours." With that, the girl stood, picked up her backpack, and walked out, holding the worn bag by the handle on top. If Hank thought it odd, he didn't say anything as he followed her to the car.

The party was in full swing by the time Hank and Sierra got to the Institute. The Professor had thought it best that students be allowed to remain on campus for the summer, instead of being sent home (if they had a home; otherwise they could stay year-round anyway). So, to appease the parents of the children staying for the summer, and bring back the students that had left for a little bit, Xavier had decided to host a huge 4th of July barbecue, and invited all the parents and students. The students looking at coming in for the fall semester were invited with their parents too, to get a look around campus and meet everyone before any final decisions were made. Hank had invited Sierra, knowing her adoptive parents wouldn't care if she came, and wanting her to see what kind of a place it was for mutants, where they could be themselves with no fear. Because of the long drive for most parents, many had showed up the day before, and early that morning. So when Hank and Sierra pulled up, the first thing that came to the mutants' ears was the sound of something hitting something else, and a huge splash coming from around back.  
"Come, let's go make sure no one was injured too severely," Hank said with a wry smile to Sierra. The pair walked around the building just in time to get sprayed with a second splash. Ray was already in the pool, and now Kitty was too, looking ready to murder someone.  
"Do you know, like, how long my hair took to do?" she wailed to no one in particular, while off to the side Kurt and Evan subtly bumped fists. Logan watched over it all from his place at the grill, seeming to keep track of a thousand things at once. Sierra scanned the scene with interest, but quickly lost it. No one here looked...different. They all looked like regular, normal human beings. How stupid could she have been, to think that she'd fit in here?  
"-And that's Logan over by the grill," Hank said, shaking her from her thoughts. "You didn't hear a word I just said, did you?" The man looked down at the girl, who still refused to show her face. He understood that she had undergone some physical transformations since he had last seen her, but she was unwilling to describe to exactly what extent. A small laugh came from under the black hood.  
"Logan's over by the grill," Sierra said, in her soft, melodic voice. Hank sighed and started again. This time Sierra paid slightly more attention. She scanned the grounds again, looking for anyone who was like her. She didn't know that Kurt had an image inducer on, or Hank. In their letters, Hank had conveniently "forgotten" to mention his own transformation, and never really described any of the students. And Sierra was used to people with...rapidly fluctuating looks, so his "blond" didn't really disturb her. After all, it had been almost eight years since she'd seen Hank McCoy face-to-face. She noticed with little interest that the two who had been in the pool had climbed out, and were now dripping wet and chasing a group of boys around.  
"So, what do you think?" Hank said after a moment of silence.  
"None of them are like me," was Sierra's only answer. She walked over to the picnic table next to the grill where Logan worked, brooding over a collection of hotdogs and hamburgers. Plunking herself down, Sierra picked up the open beer on the end of the table.  
"What do you think yer doin', that's my beer," her growled.  
"Oh, how nice of you to share," Sierra said, taking a long swig. She set the beer back in exactly the same spot, and didn't touch it again. For some reason, Logan didn't want to hurt her for drinking his beer. Sierra turned to the yard, watching the people there. Hank had gone back to mingle with the parents, students, and future students. A woman he had called Storm talked with the parents too, only the occasional flicker of lightning from her fingers making it apparent that she was faculty here. A bald man in a wheelchair sat in a small gazebo next to the pool, conversing with some of the parents. Professor Charles Xavier, according to Hank. As if sensing her looking at him, the man looked over and gave her a small smile, then turned back to the people around him.  
"Hi, I'm Jean Grey, and this is Scott," a voice said behind Sierra. She turned to face the speaker. A red-headed girl stood next to a tall guy with brown hair and dark red shades. "We're old students here, and we just thought we'd come over to say hey," the red-head spoke up again.  
"That's real nice. You've said hi," Sierra said, turning back around.  
"So...um...we were wondering if you'd want to come play some ball with us?" a masculine voice spoke up. Sierra looked at where the boy, Scott, was pointing, at a group of kids holding various articles of baseball equipment. A boy with light brown skin and blond hair smiled and waved, then motioned her over. Sierra quickly dropped her head before the boy could get a look at her face, and hunched her shoulders.  
"Nah, thanks. I'm fine," she responded. The two behind her just stood there for a second, before the boy, Scott, spoke up again.  
"All powers allowed," he said coaxed. Sierra sat, as if contemplating it for a second.  
"Nope." The pair stood there for a second longer before walking away, the girl muttering something about the 'rude guest.' _Trust me, Red,_ Sierra thought, _You don't want me playing ball with you._  
"Are you alright? You've been sitting here since you arrived," a concerned voice said from across the picnic table. Sierra looked up just enough to see the woman who had been mingling earlier, Storm, sitting across from her. She heard Logan make an annoyed sound as more people invaded his personal bubble, but the woman ignored him.  
"I'm fine ma'am. Thanks for the worry though," Sierra said in her most sincere voice. The woman made a dubious noise, but left, like Sierra had wanted. She turned her attention to the ball game going on off to the side, watching as a blond girl pitched an explosive sphere, that looked to be made of light, instead of the ball, which exploded when the batter struck. The pitcher laughed, and the batter picked up a ball from the side, covered it in a thin layer of ice, then hit it straight at the pitcher. The red-head, Jean, seeing what was coming at her teammate, who wasn't paying attention and was still laughing, quickly extended her hand and the ball flew off course, hitting a boy with long-ish black hair.  
"Hey!" the boy yelled, disappearing and reappearing with a puff of smoke five feet above first base, across the field. Sierra heard a deep chuckle from Logan as the boy fell to the ground. "Vat vas zat about?" the boy asked, rubbing his backside as he stood and looked over at Jean, who was trying not to laugh.  
"Don't surprise the elf, he might hurt himself or someone else," Logan said, flipping another burger. Sierra's heightened senses could smell the sulfur and brimstone from where she was sitting, and she assumed it was from the disappearing/reappearing trick. Either that, or someone needed to lay off the baked beans. Big time. The next batter stepped up, the boy that had motioned her over earlier. A new pitcher was up too, Scott. The new batter sprouted what looked to be a stone spike from his forearm and pulled it the rest of the way out, the end tipped with small spikes sticking out. Scott pitched and the batter hit, but the ball stuck to the spikes on the end of the "bat." The boy took off, emptying bases, four home runs. All before the other team could get the ball off the bat.  
"Mercy rule!" someone shouted, and the team that had just lost groaned. Logan just laughed, and went back to his grill. As the sun began set, Sierra snagged a burger and ate it without a bun or anything else, just the plain meat patty. Her stomach grumbled in protest at food after so long, but she just hunched tighter into a ball and ignored it, like she had ignored the hunger pains for the last several days.

Hank had watched Sierra all afternoon, and was worried. She hadn't said more than ten words to anyone, no matter how many people he sent over there. He had even resorted to send some of the mothers over, but they had left as quickly as the rest, understanding looks on their face. Whatever she had said, they knew it was best to leave her alone. So why couldn't Hank just accept that she was tired or having "girl problems" or whatever, and let it go?  
_I believe, friend, that what you are feeling is natural for someone who has the relationship with her that you do,_ a voice said into Hank's head. He looked over to find the Professor looking back at him. _Perhaps you can help her?  
__You may be right, friend,_ Hank mentally sighed. Finally, he went over himself.  
"What's wrong, Sierra? You have barely spoken to anyone all afternoon," he said, sitting down on the bench next to her. He hadn't taken off the image inducer yet, no need to needlessly frighten new students and parents with a sudden transformation, which was what he had told Kurt too. When the Professor introduced them, they would have time then. Everyone else looked fairly normal, when they had their powers off.  
"I don't belong here Hank," she said softly beside him. Hank knew Logan could hear every word crystal clear from where he was standing, but he also knew the man had enough common sense to not intervene. Logan had also been thoughtful enough to not bring his claws out all day, which was quite a display of control for the man.  
"I thought that too, at first. But the Professor, and everyone else here managed to convince me that I do." Hank looked at the girl, hearing an odd rustling underneath her hoodie.  
"You don't get it Hank. No one here is like me. They're all..._normal_. At least as normal as mutants can get. I'm a freak, even among freaks." Sierra ignored the sharp pain in her shoulder blades, and stood. "I'm going for a walk." Hank stared after her, torn between letting her go, which he had learned was sometimes best for teenagers, and running after her, which he knew she hadn't had enough of in her life. She had made it to the other end of the pool, now empty, before Hank made up his mind. He loped after her, catching up to her in a few of her steps.  
"Sierra, wait!" he said, clapping a hand on her shoulder. She cried out and sank to her knees, trying to hold her back where he had touched her. "What's wrong? What happened?" he questioned. As the official medic, Hank knew something had to be very wrong with the way she was holding herself.  
"What's wrong?" something inside Sierra snapped. She stood, and turned to face Hank. "What's _wrong_?! What's _wrong_, is that I'm a mutant. And worse than that, I'm an orphaned mutant _freak_!" she screamed, getting the attention of the parents and a few students, very quickly. "What's wrong is that I look like this!" With that, Sierra tore off her hoodie, revealing her tank top and skin underneath. Even the mutants that were used to Kurt and Hank's appearance gasped as they all saw her for the first time. Her skin was silver, and sparkled, especially in the setting sun. What shocked them though was her face. Her short black hair was spiked back with bangs on each side, like Tink's sister in Tinker Bell: The Secret of the Wings **{Yes, I've seen that movie. Calm down.}**. Her eyes were cat's eyes, sparkling blue to match the blue-ish tint to her silver skin. Her lips were blue like her eyes, and her ears were pointed. But what was really different about her face was her nose. Her nose...wasn't. Where she should have nostrils, there was only two small, vertical slits in her face, and there was no protrusion for the rest of her nose. "You see? Even they're afraid of me. Oh, and it gets better. Remember the little bumps I had on my back when you lived next door to me, Hank?" Sierra asked, still only speaking to the man in front of her. "You want to see them now?" Without waiting for his answer, Sierra bit her lip, revealing fang-like canines, and something moved behind her. From behind her rose two objects, glimmering in the faint moonlight and dying sunlight. It took Hank a second to recognize them as she kept raising them up, until the were in position. They were wings. Hank walked around her, and gasped. The wings were made of a transparent membrane stretched between the muscles that formed the outside stretched teardrop shape **{Think the top part of Tinker Bell's wings}**, and webbed with veins, making small panes inside her wings. And there wasn't a pane that wasn't ripped or torn, infection obvious on most. Hank reached out to touch her wings, but she pulled away and turned quickly, wincing as her wings caught the air and pulled against her back. "You see? I can't even be a freak right." A commotion off to the side caught Hank's attention, and he turned in time to see Evan chasing Rahne across the lawn, his skateboard in her mouth. Most of the kids who had been playing baseball hadn't heard the yelling over their own noise, and neither Rahne nor Evan were looking where they were going. Thankfully, Rahne was in her quadruped form when she hit Sierra, causing her to only stumble backwards, and flap her wings for balance. The pixie-girl cried out as her wings moved and air flowed across them. Evan, hearing the cry, looked up, but it was too late. He crashed into her, sending her splashing into the pool. The pain of impact knocked Sierra unconscious. She sank to the bottom, her air leaving a trail of bubbles to the surface.

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**So, what do you guys think? This is my first fanfic, so I don't expect it to be too good. I got the idea for the 4th of July party from lychee loving, in his/her story Utter Chaos, or Something Like It (and basically stole his/her entire setting for it). I bet all you guys thought that the girl was an old love interest from Hank's past, didn't you? And to all you sickos out there who think like I do sometimes, no, they didn't hookup, he isn't a pedophile, don't worry. All in due time. I didn't set this after a specific episode, and it's not really following the story line, so if I say something that contradicts an episode in this story, I'm sorry. I'm also sorry if I mess up a character, I'm not too good at this; and yes, I know Logan was very un-Logan-like about the beer thing, but trust me, you'll find out about that in due time, too. I can't promise "I'll have a new chapter every week!" but I'll try to update as much as possible. Please review, flames welcome! Just please, constructive criticism flames. Oh, and I have no clue how long this story will get, so stick with me on this, pweeze? Tank yoo! :P**


	2. A DNA Idea

Beast rested his head in his hands, waiting for the computer to finish scanning Sierra's DNA sample. He thought back over the past three days, for the eighth time in as many hours. It had started off okay, with picking up Sierra without a hitch, except for accidentally causing her pain when he touched her wing as he patted her back at the train station. Then they'd gotten to the mansion, and she had barely spoken to anyone. Then her whole display with showing what she looked like, and getting knocked into the pool. After a moment of stunned silence, it had been Evan, Evan! not himself, or one of the parents or mutants that were watching, but _Evan_, who had lept into the pool and pulled her out. As soon as she had been taken out of the water Hank saw a gash on her left temple, where her head had hit the bottom of the pool. He had immediately rushed her to the infirmary, where he could work. He had been joined shortly after by the Professor, and they had set to work, running tests on DNA samples to see if there was anything they could give her for the infection in her wings, making sure she stayed stable, and doing anything they could to help her come out of her coma. The one thing they had discovered that was useful, though not good, was that if the infection somehow managed to get from her wings to her brain, it would almost surely kill her. That had been almost seventy-four hours ago, and Hank still hadn't stopped working. He had created an antibiotic to help combat the infection, but it didn't seem to be working as well as he had hoped. When the computer went PING! Hank jerked upright, realizing he had almost fallen asleep in his chair. Recognizing the signs of physical exhaustion, Hank wearily stood and took the elevator up to the teachers' floor and stumbled into his room, not bothering to turn off anything in his lab. He collapsed onto the bed, and fell asleep almost immediately.

_Hank stood on his back porch, looking out into the night. He was sure he'd seen movement out here, but it could have just been a squirrel or something. He was about to go back inside when he heard a whimper from behind the rose bush. Stepping carefully, but making sure to make noise to alert whatever it was that he was coming, Hank stepped off the porch and walked towards the bush. When he got there, he didn't see anything. He had turned around to go back inside when he heard a small voice._  
_"Help me," the voice begged. Hank looked again, and there was a small girl peeking out from around the bush. He immediately scooped her up and carried her inside, not caring that he was getting mud and blood on his shirt. When he got inside, he sat the girl on his kitchen table and went to the bathroom for a washcloth. Returning, he saw that she had taken off her shirt and was inspecting her back in the full-length mirror in his living room. He gasped and dropped the washcloth when he saw what she was looking at. Running up and down the girl's back were scars. Some were lines, and others were star bursts, covering most of her lower back. There were also fresh cuts, that were still bleeding._  
_"What happened?" he asked gently as he handed her the cloth, which was damp with warm water._  
_"Hmm? Oh, Dave got mad again. So he started hitting me with the fireplace poker and his beer bottles," the girl replied. Her back might have been scarred and rough, but her voice was soft and smooth. She turned from the mirror and handed Hank back the cloth, motioning to her back with a question in her eyes. Hank knelt and began to softly dab the blood off of her back. Once she was cleaned up, he led her to the bathroom where he bandaged her back. Then he carried her out to the living room and set her down on the couch, then took the chair across from her._  
_"Do you want to start at the beginning and tell me what happened?" he asked the girl, looking into her eyes. He expected her to tear up, or look away or something, but she didn't. She just held him in her unwavering gaze. He was finally the one who looked away, and when he looked back she was smiling._  
_"Because you're asking, okay," she said, crossing her legs Indian style on the couch. "Because we're starting at the beginning, my name is Sierra McCaulough. I'm five years old." Hank looked at her. If you took away the manner in which she spoke and the knowledge in her young eyes, she did look five or six years old. "My parents died when I was two years old, in a plane crash. I heard there were these other two boys who survived, but I've never met them. I was put into the foster system, and that's how I ended up with Dave and Millie. Dave was nice at first, and I couldn't figure out why Millie didn't like him. But then, one night, I couldn't sleep and I heard shouting. So I went to look at what was going on. I saw Dave hitting Millie, with the fireplace poker. She was on the ground and she wasn't moving. I ran down the stairs and I went over to Millie and I stood in front of her, but Dave was drunk and angry so he kept hitting, even though he was hitting me. The next morning I woke up and my back was covered in blood and I was laying on top of Millie in the living room. Dave was upstairs with a headache from drinking, and Millie still wasn't awake. When Dave came downstairs I was still on top of Millie, because it hurt to move. He got angry at me, thinking that I had dome something to Mille, because he didn't remember the night before. So he slapped me and sent me to my room. That was the first time. Millie came in later and showed me how to fix my back so it didn't hurt as much. But the next week it happened again, so I went down and told Dave to stop. Instead of stopping, he just hit me in the back with his beer bottle. I woke up on my bed tucked in like Millie always did. But it kept happening week after week, so I got those scars. That was a year ago. I was four. But Dave got really angry tonight, and he broke Millie's arm. I didn't know what else to do, so I snuck out the back door and came over here. I've seen you from my bedroom window, and you looked like you wouldn't hurt me. You looked nice." And with that, Sierra fell silent. Hank just sat there for a moment, trying to understand what this young girl had told him. David, his next door neighbor for years, was abusing his wife and foster daughter._  
_"Do you think that it's okay that Dave does that, Sierra?" Hank asked the girl, trying to figure out if there was any mental damage he might have done, or psychological._  
_"No. But I'm willing to let him hit me so he stops hitting Millie. She said he'd been doing it to her for years." Sierra looked dead serious, her big, round eyes looking at him._  
_"This isn't right, abuse is illegal, I should call the cops," Hank muttered under his breath._  
_"No!" Sierra cried, hearing him. "Don't call the police, Dave said if Millie or I ever did that he would kill us!" This was the first fear the girl had shown, her whole story she had just been stating the facts._  
_"Okay, I won't call the police. But promise me you will come over here every time he hits you so I can help you, okay?" Hank said, looking at Sierra. She nodded solemnly, folding her hands in her lap._

Hank rolled over in his sleep, and hit the snooze button on the alarm he'd set, falling back onto his pillow.

_It had been a year since he had first met Sierra, and she had come over every night since then. Most of the time she could get away before she got hit, but she still occasionally came over with new cuts. He had found some odd little protrusions on her back, between her shoulder blades a few nights ago, and he was still trying to figure out what they were, with her permission of course. It almost looked like she had had two more limbs there, and someone had cut them off._  
_"So, why does this one move and that one doesn't?" Sierra asked, pointing to the nub on her right shoulder blade._  
_"I'm not sure," Hank responded, looking up from his chart. "My guess is that it's something in your DNA, maybe inbreeding?" The girl laughed._  
_"I doubt that. But if it's in my DNA, couldn't you just go in and change it?" she asked._

Hank jerked upright. The sun was setting outside, but he had just had a brilliant idea. Or rather, he'd just remembered a brilliant idea.

Hank was running around his lab, trying to keep four different projects from exploding at once. He hadn't even looked at the results of the tests before he had gone upstairs for his nap, so he already had his basic notes done when he got back to the lab. All he had to do now was figure out how to turn his hypothetical idea into a physical solution. The basic idea was simple; if he couldn't find a way to help her from outside her body, he might be able to find a way to help her from inside her body. Finally, the first beaker changed colors and began to bubble violently. Beast pulled it off the burner and set it on the counter to cool before pouring into an IV bag. Once all four projects were in bags, Hank set up drips to the unconscious girl. Each solution targeted a specific set of chromosomes inside her body, to change them. Hank sat back and sighed. Now, to see if they worked the way he hoped they would.

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**Hey guys! Sorry about the short chapter, and if it was confusing I'm sorry about that, too. But I need this for later chapters, and for stuff you find out later. And yes, that plane crash I was talking about was the one that Scott and Alex were in. The timing might be a little bit off, sorry about that too. Well, I guess that's it for my after-chapter bit. Remember to review, flames welcome!**


	3. Sneaking Out

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution, they belong to Marvel and whoever. And I know I'm going to forget to put this at the beginning of each chapter, so from now on, the only characters I own are Sierra McCaulough and anyone else I chose to make up, no one else. Thanks! :)

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Sierra woke with a splitting headache. She moaned as her head felt like it would fall apart, pounding with her heartbeat. Running her hands over her face, she felt her fingers steeple over her nose. Over her...wait, her _what_? Sierra gasped and felt her face. There, sticking out from the middle of it, was a nose. She couldn't believe it. "Are you still in here?" came a voice from outside her room. Dave sounded...different. Sierra opened her eyes, and had a brief heart-attack. She wasn't in her room at home, she wasn't even at home. Then all her memory came flooding back; Hank, the barbecue, freaking out and showing off her new looks. She moaned again and closed her eyes. "Scott?" came the voice from outside the room again. Now she could recognize it as Hank's voice. She heard the door open, and felt his gaze on her. She could almost see his smile. She opened her eyes a crack, and promptly let out a strangled yelp. The thing standing in the doorway had Hank's eyes, Hank's glasses, and Hank's fashion sense, but it was blue and furry. Sierra curled up into a ball on her side and shut her eyes.  
"It's all just a dream, it's all just a dream, you'll wake up to find that you missed your train, this isn't real, it's all just a dream," she repeated to herself over and over.  
"Oh, I'm afraid this is no dream," Hank's voice said from the doorway. The blue thing lumbered into the room, surprisingly graceful. "I look like this now." Sierra slowly turned back onto her back in the bed. "Well, it looks like both of us were not exactly...giving when it came to our new appearances." The thing smiled. Sierra was beginning to start to think of it as Hank. She smiled wryly.  
"If you want, we can leave, Mr. McCoy," came a voice from the side of her bed. She turned, and sitting there were two very sleepy-looking boys. One she recognized from the barbecue as Scott, and the other was the boy who had made the spike bat in baseball, and had knocked her into the pool. It was Scott who had spoken, Sierra remembered his voice.  
"No, that's alright. You two haven't left yet, I'm not going to make you leave now," Hank said, smiling.  
"He put ten dollars in the betting pool that you two won't leave until Monday," Sierra said without thinking. Hank, Scott, and spike boy all just looked at her. "Oh yeah, freaky pixie trick; I can read your mind if you're close enough to me." Both boys hastily scooted back. Hank stood there in shock for a second, then grinned.  
"Okay, how did you actually find out about my bet?" he asked, leaning against the wall.  
"That woman, Storm?, was talking about it with Jean. It seems that Jean bets today, and Storm bets Tuesday?" Sierra reached up and tapped the air vent above her bed. She looked over at both boys, and they were blushing. _They are pretty cute,_ Sierra thought to herself. Scott blushed starting at the tips of his ears and his neck, and it slowly made its way onto his face, turning him a rosy pink color. Spike boy blushed from his cheekbones, turning both cheeks a dusky pink color.  
"Aunty O was betting on us?" Spike boy asked. Sierra just looked at him and arched one eyebrow. "Storm?" he prompted.  
"Oh, yeah. Twenty bucks says whoever Evan is doesn't leave until Wednesday, and Scott until Tuesday," she replied. Just then, someone knocked on the door frame.  
"Knock, knock! Kitty made you both an anchovy and jalapeno pizza for lunch, vith her special sauce," a voice came from outside the room. In walked another boy; but this one was also blue. Sierra gasped in surprise, but was getting more used to odd people.  
"Question," she spoke up from the bed, "Are you all secretly blue and fuzzy?" This caused the new blue boy to look at her. He gasped.  
"I thought you said she didn't have a nose, Evan!" he said. Sierra looked around.  
"Yeah, how did that one happen anyway? Last time I remember having a nose was...never mind. But still, what?" she asked, her gaze locking on Hank. "Hank?"  
"Here, I'm usually referred to Mr. McCoy or Beast. But, I kind of took your suggestion, and it had...unintended side affects," he said, looking at the ground.  
"Took my sugges...HANK MCCOY TELL ME YOU DID _NOT_ LISTEN TO MY_ SIX-AND-A-HALF-YEAR-OLD_ SELF!" she shouted, understanding what he was meaning.  
"I was out of options, okay? And there was only a small chance you would have died from it. And you got your nose back." Hank held up his hands as if to stop her anger.  
"Tell me...tell me what the chance was I would have died," Sierra said, massaging her forehead like she had a headache.  
"Sixty four percent chance of death," Hank mumbled, looking at the floor. "But you didn't die! And your wings are healed!" he quickly added, seeing the look on her face.  
"I had an over sixty percent chance of death, and you think having my wings fixed will make it all better? I can't even fly! It would've been better if you had cut them off," Sierra said, turning her head away from Hank. Unfortunately, that put Scott and Evan in her line of sight. She couldn't bare to look at them either, and see the sympathy on their faces. So she turned to the ceiling and shut her eyes, trying to trap the tears. But two small tears escaped, and slowly rolled down each cheek. She jerked slightly when she felt a hand on each side of her face, and two thumbs wiping away her tears. Sierra opened her eyes to face whoever it was, and came face-to-face with Evan's brown eyes. He had one hand on each side of her face and was leaning over her, almost close enough to touch her nose with his own.  
"Hey, it's okay. You didn't die, and you're fine now. Better than fine, you have your nose back. Hank- er, Mr. McCoy- was just trying to help you. You're okay, you're okay," he whispered to her, looking deep into her eyes. She could see her stupid cat-eyes reflected in the dark chocolate brown. Evan looked down at this girl he was comforting. She was practically a stranger, yet he hadn't left her bedside since her accident, except when Mr. McCoy had sent him out. She was beautiful, in a strange and slightly mystical way, with her silvery skin and dark blue eyes and lips. He had had the unnatural urge to move her hair out of her face every time it fell into it when she was unconscious, and hold her hand until she woke up. Now, a brief smile graced those blue lips, and she nodded. He knew that none of the others had heard what he'd told her as he sat back down in his chair, and Kurt was making faces at him, most of which were some variation of the kissy-face. Evan stuck out his tongue and took a piece of the anchovy and jalapeno pizza. Sierra laughed as he promptly choked on the horrible pizza and pinned the rest of the offending object to the opposite wall with a spike.  
"Oh, and you might be able to fly now," Hank added as an after-thought, which got her attention.  
"What do you mean, I 'might be able to fly now'?" she asked, holding him in her gaze.  
"I gave you four drips. One was a stronger dose of the antibiotic for the infection in your wings. The second was an accelerator for your natural healing process. I think that one might be partially responsible for your nose. The third was actually some of your own plasma cells I'd cloned, along with some things I thought would help your head heal. The fourth was the dangerous one. It was a stimulant to your muscles' growth process, to aid in re-growing the missing parts of your wings. If I had given you even a little bit too much though, you could have gotten addicted, which would eventually lead to your heart and/or brain exploding. So I didn't really go into your DNA, but your hair and nails might grow faster for a while, and you might have faster healing."  
"So you basically put a time-bomb of chemicals into me and hoped that it wouldn't explode," Sierra summed up.  
"Yes. But, between the healing solution and the growth stimulant, they worked a little too well." Hank rubbed the back of his neck. "Your wings, and I'm assuming the rest of your body, is now stronger than before. So, you might be able to fly."  
"I guess we'll find out when I get out of here, which won't be for a while," Sierra said, looking at Hank. He smiled.  
"Well, you have two very caring nurses that haven't left your side all week," he said, motioning to Evan and Scott. "So, I believe some _official_ introductions are in order. Sierra, meet Scott Summers, Kurt Wagner, and Evan Daniels. Boys, please meet Sierra McCaulough." Hank motioned to each of the boys in turn. "Boys, anything you want to add?"  
"You're one of the Summers boys?" Sierra interrupted before any of the guys could say something, looking at Scott with new interest.  
"Yes," he nodded, taking the odd question in stride.  
"Your parents died in a plane crash, fourteen years ago," she stated, looking at him for confirmation.  
"Yes, but I hardly see what bringing up past mental trauma has to do with introductions. How did you know?"  
Sierra brushed her hair out of her face. "Three children survived that crash; a boy named Scott Summers, his younger brother named Alex Summers, and a two-year-old girl named Sierra Ann McCaulough." She looked straight into Scott's eyes as she said that, judging his reaction. He looked down at his hands, folded on his lap, then looked back at her.  
"I'm so sorry for the loss of your parents. I know how much that can hurt," he said, looking into her eyes.  
"Don't be sorry, my life would suck a lot more if I had parents that cared about me," she said with a flip of her hand. All four guys were shocked by her attitude. "So, what are your powers?"  
Kurt was the first to recover. "I can teleport through another dimension."  
Evan was next. Instead of answering, he pointed to the pizza hanging on the far wall, and pulled a flaming spike out of his palm.  
Scott was the last to recover. "Optical energy beams," was all he said, before getting up and walking out.  
"Well, it's been nice to meet you all officially, but I'm going to sleep now," Sierra announced a few seconds later, after they heard the elevator doors open and close. "Oh, and will one of you tell Kitty that she wins the bet, and Jean can collect half of what she'd get if she was right?" With that, Sierra rolled onto her stomach, wrapped her arms around the pillow to make it fluffier, and fell asleep. What she had failed to realize, though, was that she was topless underneath the sheet that had been tucked under her arms, and with her rolling over it fell down her back, revealing a canvas of scars. Beast gasped and quickly covered her up to her wings, but Evan just sat there in shock.

It was another twenty-four hours before Sierra woke again. This time she was alone, with clothes folded on the chair and a note on top. She grabbed the note first, and read it. "At 4th of July fireworks, gone for a bit. If you need anything, just get the Professor's attention. You may change and go to the bathroom, but don't do anything more than that, still not sure of full affects. TV has cable, remote in first drawer on nightstand. Sorry if clothes don't fit, Jean wasn't sure what size you were. Be back soon. -Hank" Scrawled below that in a different hand was "Don't ruin my pants, please -Evan" Sierra laughed and gingerly slid off the bed, her legs weak from not being walked on. Her backpack was in the corner, and she quickly rummaged through for her stuff. Grabbing out clean stuff and shampoo, she walked over to the pile of clothes on the chair. A pair of cargo shorts, a black tank top, and underwear. Leaving the underwear on the chair and grabbing her own, she found the bathroom. She shimmied out of her jeans and took her underwear off, feeling gross and dirty. She quickly stepped into the shower and scrubbed, lathering her hair with shampoo and washing. Stepping out, she dried off and stood in front of the mirror, naked. She inspected all of her limbs first, feeling an unsual strength in them. Slowly and with a sense of dread, she looked at the reflection of her face. Her nose was back, and it was _her_ nose. There was even the scar from where she'd fallen out of a tree and broken it in 6th grade. Then, she turned so she could see her wings, and raised them. Her wings were bigger and stronger looking than ever, and shimmered in the steamy bathroom light. Slipping into her underwear she pulled the tank top on and slipped her wings over the back, then pulled on the olive green shorts, slipping the belt in so that they hung low on her hips, over the tank. She quickly brushed her hair, and left it down, the black layers framing her face. Hank had said something about being at the 4th of July fireworks, and not to leave her room.  
_Professor?_ she thought, trying to project her thoughts.  
_Yes, Sierra?_ came the response and almost scaring her spitless.  
_Where are the fireworks?_ she asked, trying to sound innocent.  
_You can observe them from the cliff behind the mansion,_ was the quick reply.  
_Thanks Professor!_ Sierra quickly pulled on socks then located her shoes and pulled them on too. She found her way to the elevator and pressed the "1" button. The doors opened, and she stepped inside. If Hank caught her she knew she'd be in trouble, but she wanted to see some of the place, and see if she could find the fireworks Hank had talked about. So, she was sneaking out.

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**Hey guys! Thanks for sticking with me, hope this chapter is better than the last one! I'm pretty sure this story sucks, but whatever! Please, please, please! review, flames are welcome! I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, so I hope this is good enough for now! Love ya'll!**


	4. A Peek Into the Past

Sierra followed the sounds of kids to the nearest window, once she finally got to the first floor. Opening the window she lightly leapt out, stumbling when she landed. Turns out the cliff the Professor had been talking about was a clearing that had a sheer drop to the ocean, far below. Sierra stood just inside the tree line, trying not to be detected. Soon, the sun sank below the ocean and the students that weren't putting on the show were sitting on blankets and beach towels, in pairs and threes. As soon as the first firework went off, Sierra knew it had been a bad idea to come. With each flash of light and boom of noise, she slipped a little further into her memory. She fought it violently, digging her nails into a tree and clenching her teeth, the noise of the fireworks drowning out anything she was doing. Then a particularly spectacular firework exploded and the students started to clap. That was all it took to loosen her grip on reality enough for the memories to fully take her.

_She stood in an empty arena, her back against the door that she had just come out of. Her black bodysuit was soaked with sweat, and her wings beat restlessly behind her. It'd never taken this long for them to send out an opponent, ever. Then, just as she was thinking she was in the clear and done for the night, the door across the octagonal space began to creak open. Out lumbered a huge robot, easily four times her height. She just stood and watched it approach, taking in its gait and build, trying to determine where it would have what weapons. She didn't move until the metal giant opened fire on her, a rotating blaster in its palm tracking her movements. She leapt to the left and right, easily avoiding the blasts. She nimbly leapt behind the robot, and began to climb up the back of its left leg. She easily scaled its back, and reached the main power core in the back of its head. She clenched her teeth and tightened the muscles in her right arm. Eighteen inch adamantium claws shot out of her knuckles, making a SNIKT! sound as they broke the skin. She reached up and slashed her claws across the back of its neck, decapitating it. She simply rotated so she was facing backwards and leaned forwards, slashing as many tubes as she could reach on the back._  
_"And there you have it ladies and gentlemen! That is the twentieth robot X-35 has defeated in three hours!" a voice boomed over the PA system. She stood from the back of the robot and faced where she knew a camera would be, a ferocious expression on her face. The applause of the spectators echoed out of the PA speaker, masking the creak of metal. She didn't see the arm of the robot reach up towards her. The last thing she saw was the decapitated robot as she was flung to the ground, then the robot fell on top of her, crushing her. Sierra stood in her cell, and watched in horrified fascination. The girl she had just watched die had been her cell-mate, a bird mutant that had already undergone the Weapon X process. Her name had been Nelli, and she had been a mother to Sierra in the six months Sierra'd been a prisoner of Hydra. Knowing Dave, Sierra knew no one was looking for her, so she was always looking for the chance to escape. It came when they came to clear out Nelli's stuff, and forgot to lock the cell door. The guard they'd sent to get Nelli's things was new, because Sierra couldn't cause too many problems, right? Wrong. As soon as he'd stuck his head in the closet that held Nelli's uniforms, Sierra took his passcard and slipped out the door, running down the hall, opening every door she came to. As she ran, she heard mutants busting out of their cells, and alarms wailing in the distance. Eventually, they found their way to a main hall. Of course, the entire base knew what had happened by that point. They were all waiting with blasters and tranquilizers, ready for anything. She didn't know who fired the first shot, but soon shots filled every hallway, no one caring what they were hitting, only that they weren't getting hit. Sierra ducked and dodged, which she'd gotten good at. They had already replaced her feet, leg, hip, hand, arm, and rib bones with adamantium, trying to see if it was less stressful on a body to get the change in segments. Of course, they'd also accidentally made her nose fall off too. Reaching a wall, Sierra simply kicked through it, not caring that she was tearing the skin off her feet. She finally reached an outside wall, explosions all around her. The lights had been blown out a long time ago, so only the brief flashes of light from explosions and the flickering fire of burning pipes lit it. She didn't see him until it was almost too late. The Hydra agent snuck up behind her and got her in a headlock, forcing her down onto her knees. She swept her leg under him and knocked him down, not caring that he cracked his head on the hard cement floor. She stood and kicked through the final wall, moonlight flooding the hall as more and more crumbled. Sierra ran out, taking shelter in the forest. She quickly got her bearings from the stars, like Hank had taught her to. She began heading south, back towards Dave. She wondered if he'd even remember about her when she got back._

Sierra turned and ran through the forest, making a clear trail. She heard someone coming after her and ran faster, her mind still trying to blindly escape the Hydra agents that had followed her for four days through thick forest. She burst out of the trees near the front of the mansion and ran across the lawn and up the steps, tears freely falling from her eyes. She threw open the doors and dove into the first hiding spot she could find; behind the couch. She curled into a ball and hid her face in her knees, waiting for the Hydra agent to shoot her and take her back. But that didn't happen. She felt a soothing hand on her head, big enough to cover almost half without moving. She felt herself get scooped up and carried gently to the couch, where whoever had her sat down and held her, still curled up tight, on their lap. She recognized the familiar scent of Hank McCoy and wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. She heard the doors open and a small group of people enter, but she didn't care. Hank wrapped his arms around her back and held her tightly, murmuring into her ear in Latin like he had done to calm her down when she was a little girl.  
"Is she okay, Hank?" Sierra heard someone ask as she calmed down. As her heart rate dropped, the scenes behind her eyelids began to fade, and she began to see what was in front of her. She was curled up on Hank's giant lap, Evan was sitting on his right side and Scott on his left, Professor Xavier in his wheelchair in front of them.  
"I-I'm sorry Professor. I should have listened to Hank's in-instructions and stayed in the infirmary, huh?" she asked, slightly choking on her words. The Professor looked at her.  
"It's alright, Sierra. I should have realized that you would have wanted to come see the fireworks, especially because Mr. McCoy warned me that you were good at sneaking out. I also should have realized that you would have some sort of emotional trauma, after what you've gone through. Mr. McCoy informed me of your less-than-loving foster parents," Professor Xavier said, reaching out and touching her hand. Scott and Evan were shocked, the Professor almost never touched them in such a comforting manner. Sierra shakily stood from Beast's lap and looked around.  
"I'll leave, as soon as I figure out where my stuff is. Don't worry, you won't have to deal with me anymore," she said, refusing to look at them. The funny thing was, she would have liked to live there. She'd never had any siblings, and, though she didn't realize it, was desperate for the love everyone at the Institute could provide.  
"Wait. Beast and I have talked it over, and we would prefer you remain here, at least for the time being. From what I've been told, Dave won't be looking for you until the social worker comes calling. And you haven't been to school in almost three years. We could provide you with a family, and an education." Sierra froze.  
"You mean, you still want me?" she asked, incredulous.  
"Yes, we would love to have you here," Hank answered this time. "Besides, there are some questions only you have the answer to." Sierra's shoulders drooped.  
_I should have realized they only wanted me for information,_ she thought.  
_We would want you here, even if you did not hold the information you do,_ she heard the Professor inside her head. _So, the question is, are you willing to be an X-Man?_ Sierra turned to face him.  
"Yes, I'm willing to be an X-Man," she said, looking him in the eyes. She heard a quiet cheer and looked over to see Evan doing a happy dance. "But if you'll excuse me, I'm tired and I don't know where my room is, so I'm going to go find it." She began to walk away again, a slight smile on her blue lips. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Scott.  
"I- that is, we- can show you back to the infirmary, if that's where you want to go," he offered, and Evan nodded behind him. She smiled again and nodded, letting the two boys guide her to the elevator she had ridden up. Once they finally got back to her room, she collapsed on the bed after kicking off her shoes. She was beyond exhausted, but not so much so that she didn't realize that the two boys standing in her doorway wanted something.  
"Can I help you two?" she asked, sitting up and looking at them. Both looked at the ground, the TV, the medical equipment, anywhere but her. "Look, I'll talk about what happened, and why I freaked out, when I'm ready. And all I'm ready to say right now is Hydra." Both boys looked at her then, a worried-looking look on one and murderous rage in the eyes of the other. Evan knew the story of what happened to Logan, and if he found out that those genetic-mutating freaks had done anything to this girl, he would personally find and kill all of them personally. Scott, on the other hand, knew what had happened to Logan too, and was worried for this poor girl's mind. They both nodded after a moment, but neither made a move to leave. "Look, I'm going to start stripping in twenty seconds. If you don't want me to scream loud enough that they can hear me at the Bayville police station about two Peeping Toms, I'd suggest you're not still standing there by then," Sierra said after a second. Both boys turned and left, Evan carefully shutting the door behind him. She lay back in the bed, not bothering to change. She was soon fast asleep, jerking and crying out in her dreams.

Sierra woke the next afternoon with a splitting headache. _Haven't we already done this part?_ she wondered. She looked over to the two chairs where the boys had been sitting last time, and was surprised to see Scott sound asleep in one, his hair messy and his clothes rumpled. She smiled and smoothed some of his hair back out of his face, revealing a peaceful look that made him look even younger. He couldn't have been more than two or three years older than her, but she'd seen how the others looked to him for leadership, even in the short time she'd been there. He mumbled something in his sleep and tried to roll over; because he was in a chair, he fell off and onto the floor, effectively waking himself up.  
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," she said, watching him pick himself up off the floor. Sierra hadn't really had the chance to appreciate his form before, but with a tight t-shirt and running shorts on, she could see that he was fit and muscular.  
"I stopped by after practice to see how you were doing; Beast said you were fitful during the night. I guess I was more tired than I realized," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and grinning.  
"Hey, it's okay. I just woke up myself," she said, scooting up so he could sit at the foot of the bed. "I'm sorry about what happened last night, I probably ruined the fireworks, didn't I?" He sat down and crossed his legs Indian style, like hers.  
"You didn't ruin them. Most of the students didn't notice anything at all, until they were going back and they saw the path you'd left. It's really okay," he reassured her, smiling. "Some observant team we are, huh?" She laughed, making him laugh too. It was then she saw the red-head in the doorway, Jean Grey. She instantly stopped laughing, but it was too late. Sierra had felt a connection between Scott and Jean when they had talked to her at the picnic, and could tell from the way they were snuggled at the fireworks that they were more than friends, or both wanted to be. And now Jean was standing there with a very confused look on her face. Sierra realized how they must look, sitting on her bed, her tank top pulled and showing more than it should, him looking rumpled.  
"Um, hello!" she called. "You must be the rescue squad they sent for Scott?" she attempted humor, but Jean just looked at them more. As soon as Scott turned around to look though, she put on a bright, sunny smile.  
"Yeah, I heard that there was a big, horrible monster down here that had gotten him," she said, still smiling, though it was clear that she was still trying to figure out what was going on.  
"Hey, no worries. He was just being nice and helping Hank out, making sure I was okay," Sierra said, not wanting her to know the truth, that he had visited her and fallen asleep. No need to ruffle Jean's feathers. "You know how us big, horrible monsters can get." Jean walked in and put a hand on Scott's shoulder.  
"Yeah, I know. Hey, Scott, I think Kurt was looking for you. You might want to go see what he wants." Scott smiled and nodded.  
"After what happened last time, yeah. Bye Sierra!" he said, climbing off her bed. He walked out, followed by Jean, who shot one last confused look at Sierra. She rolled over onto her stomach and buried her face in her pillow.  
_Enter the confusing love scenario,_ Sierra thought, drifting back to sleep. Now, all she had to do was convince Jean she wasn't trying to steal Scott.

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**Hey guys! I hope you like the little look into Sierra's past, tell me in the reviews please? Well...I think that's all I have to say for now. Review please, flames welcome!**


	5. Field Trip with Logan

Sierra sat with her legs dangling over the side of her bed, and looked at her hand. It wasn't bad, she had all four eights, a six, and three queens. Just then a knock sounded on the door frame and Hank lumbered in. She was still finding it difficult to think of him as Mr. McCoy or Beast, but she was getting better at not calling him Hank in front of the other students.  
"So, what are we playing?" he asked, looking around.  
"Poker," Evan said.  
"Uno," Scott said.  
"BS," Sierra said.  
"And we think Kurt is playing a German card game, because occasionally he will laugh evilly and say something in German," Evan said, looking up from his cards. Hank just stood there for a second, looking at the four playing on the card table set up next to the bed.  
"Well...I came to get Sierra to run a couple tests, if that's okay," Beast said after a moment. Sierra shrugged and slid off the edge of the bed, and straightened her pajama pants. The soft flannel was covered in the Batman logo, which matched the giant Batman logo on the front of her big shirt. She padded quietly after Beast down the halls, her bare feet making very little noise on the cold tile floors. After an elevator ride and a few more halls, Beast led her into a room. But instead of the medical equipment or science stuff she expected, Sierra looked around and saw couches, a small kitchenette, and vending machines. "This is the lounge," Beast answered the question in her eyes. "I just want to ask some questions." He motioned to one of the couches, and sat down in the other. Just then Professor X rolled in, and parked his wheelchair to form a triangle.  
"We discovered some...abnormalities on your x-rays," Professor X said, looking at Sierra. "We were wondering if you would care to explain." Sierra looked from the Professor to Hank and back. She had expected this, and had dreaded it.  
"Okay, what do you want to know?" she asked, tucking her feet up under herself.  
"What is your skeleton made of? The closest thing I've seen is Wolverine's adamantium skeleton," Hank started. She looked between them, and then down at the floor.  
"It is adamantium," she mumbled. Hank leaned in closer to hear her better.  
"Pardon?" Hank asked.  
"I said it_ is_ adamantium," Sierra said, looking at the checkerboard pattern of tiles. "At least, most of it is." She told them to story, of how she had been captured by Hydra when she was twelve, their experiments to see if chunking the Weapon X process into segments was less stressful to a body, and how she had escaped before they could complete the process. About how when she got back to Dave's, he had hit her for being missing for almost 7 months, and not being there when the social worker stopped by. About her fear of going mental like some of the others Hydra had tried the process on. She finally stopped talking, and crossed her arms over her chest in a protective barrier. She heard a rush of air from Hank, which she realized after a moment was a sigh.  
"How did you do it?" Hank asked, finally breaking the silence. "How did you survive that, and not pull so far back into yourself that you could barely even see the real world?" Sierra looked up for the first time since she started her story, an unreadable expression on her face.  
"Without other people, I wouldn't have survived that. You helped me survive until you left, and Nelli helped me when Hydra got me. And after that, Dave didn't seem so bad anymore. So, I guess, I was just lucky." Hank looked at her, really looked, for the first time in a long time. This girl, this fifteen-and-a-half-year-old girl, should be dead, by all rights. She had been abused since a young age, she had partially undergone a process that had emotionally and mentally scarred a grown man, she had been harassed at school. She had knowledge in her eyes that no one her age should have, and when she thought no one was looking, her shoulders sagged under the weight of the world. Her back was covered in scars that proved she had had a hard life. And she still managed to smile, laugh, and crack highly inappropriate jokes with the boys. He smiled sadly and shook his head in amazement.  
"I think that's all for today. Thank you, Sierra," Charles Xavier said after a few more minutes. "Oh, and when you feel up to it, Storm will start your basic training." With that he rolled out, not looking back. Hank took her back to her room, and they arrived just in time to see Kurt throw his cards on the table in frustration.  
"Verdammt!" he yelled. Scott, Evan, and Hank just looked at him, understanding from his tone he was cussing, but not knowing exactly what he had said. Seirra, on the other hand, sucked in a breath.  
"I will _not_ have that kind of language in my room, Kurt," she warned in a no-nonsense tone. "I don't care if that is one of the most spectacular losses I've seen in a long time." With that she went to the bed and laid down, her head spinning. So she missed the looks all the guys gave her.  
"You understood what I said?" Kurt asked, finally.  
"Of course! And let me tell you, I've gotten my mouth washed out with soap for saying much less." With that she rolled over and fell asleep as the guys packed up the cards.

When Sierra woke all the lights were off and the door was closed. She heard a rustling and looked over to see Evan coming out of the bathroom. She studied him, looking him up and down. He wasn't like most of the guys she usually noticed. He didn't have any piercings, tattoos, didn't have that bad-boy air around him. He wasn't anything like her first crush. What a _disaster_ that had been! But he intrigued her all the same.  
"What time is it?" she asked, making him jump.  
"Um...about eight at night I think, why?" he responded after his brain caught up with his body and he managed to not shoot her with spikes.  
"Because I'm bored, and I kinda want to meet everyone, just to get it over with," she responded, swinging one leg over the edge of the bed. Standing, she adjusted her top to fit right. She had cut slits in the back of her shirt for her wings, which she slowly flapped as she stretched. "Do you think they'd still be up?"  
"Yeah, they should be," he responded. She stood and walked to the door. She had more energy now than she had had in a while.  
_I guess that Hank's little...experiment worked,_ she thought as she quickly ran a brush through her short hair._ I feel great_. She followed Evan out of her room and to the elevator. When they reached the first floor he led her to the Professor's office.  
"Come in," the Professor called at their knock. Evan opened the door for her and followed her in, as she looked around. Professor X was sitting behind his desk, his fingers steepled. "What can I do for you two tonight?"  
"Well, I kind of want to officially meet everyone," Sierra said, suddenly realizing she was still in her Batman PJ's. "If that's okay." The Professor smiled.  
"Of course Sierra," he said, and shut his eyes. _Would everyone please meet in the Rec Room?_ Sierra heard in her head. Then she and Evan followed the Professor down a few halls and reached what Sierra assumed was the Rec Room. A few students were already there, and they waited until what Sierra assumed was everyone was there. Scott smiled when he came in, and Kurt gave a small wave, earning him a teasing elbow from Bobby.  
"Nice PJ's," someone said as they passed Sierra. She just blushed lightly and smiled.  
"All right, everyone. Calm down," Hank said as he came in, the last to arrive.  
"Everyone, I would like you to officially meet Sierra McCaulough. I know some of you who have visited her in the infirmary might know this already, but she has agreed to become the newest member of the X-Men. I trust you will make her feel at home." At this announcement, all the girls started cheering, and most of the guys groaned. "I'm sorry, is that any way to greet your new teammate, gentlemen?" Professor X asked in a disapproving tone. The guys looked at the ground, each other, the walls, anywhere but at the Professor.  
"We had a bet, sir," Scott finally spoke up. He was one of the three guys that didn't groan at the news. "Girls v.s. boys. Whichever side got the next member wins. Losing side has to do all chores for a week." All the girls were smirking at the boys, one of them even twinkled her fingers.  
"What have I told you about gambling about new students?" the Professor looked around. All the students looked down. "Ah, well, what's done is done. Now, on to official introductions! I believe you've already met Jean Grey. This is Kitty Pryde, also known as Shadowcat, Tabitha Smith is Boom Boom, Rogue, Amara Aquilla is Magma, Jubilation Lee is Jubilee, Rahne Sinclair is Wolfsbane, Wanda Maximoff is Scarlet Witch, Danielle Moonstar, and Laura." Each girl gave a wave or a smile as their name was called, and Seirra smiled or waved back. "And the gentlemen. You already know Scott, Kurt, and Evan, who are Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Spyke respectively. Bobby Drake is Iceman, Sam Guthrie is Cannonball, Ray Crisp is Berzerker, Roberto Da Costa is Sunspot, our youngest member, Jamie Madrox is Multiple, Fred Dukes is Blob, Todd Tolanski is Toad, Wanda's brother Pietro Maximoff is Quicksilver, Remy LeBeau is Gambit, Victor Creed is Sabretooth, Poitr Rasputin is Colossus, and John Allerdyce is Pyro. Alex Summers is Havok and is currently visiting his adoptive family in Hawaii, Forge is with his parents on a trip to Europe, and Warren is Angel and lives in New York City, but often helps us with missions. Now, all we're missing is-" The Professor was interrupted by the door banging open with the arrival of one last person. "Ah, yes. Lance Alvers, also known as Avalanche." Sierra turned to look, and froze.  
"_You!_" she said, somewhere between a growl and a scream. "I thought you said I'd never have to see your sorry face again."  
"Actually," he said, faking calmness, "I believe I said that I would never have to see your sorry face again." She clenched her fists, her wings beating in anger.  
"...I'm sorry, did the rest of us miss something?" a voice spoke up from the girls' side of the room. Sierra recognized the speaker as Kitty Pryde.  
"About a year and a half and roughly all lies," Sierra spat. "Pretty boy here is quite the charmer, isn't he?" She could tell from the way Kitty flinched that she'd struck a nerve. With that she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room through the door across from the one Lance was still standing in._ I think I'm ready to move into a room, Professor,_ Sierra thought once she reached the lobby. She wasn't going to let Lance think that she was hiding from him; no way, no how.  
_Let's not be hasty,_ came the Professor's reply. _I know you are anxious to prove yourself to him, but you do not want to overstep your limits._ Sierra thought for a few seconds. The headaches, dizziness, nausea, and fatigue were gone, replaced with energy and strength.  
_I'm ready for this,_ was her only reply. She quickly found her way to the elevator, and took it down to her floor. Walking into her room, she quickly changed, her blood still pumping and anger still buzzing around her thoughts. In a brown tank top and black yoga pants, she slipped out of her room again, pulling on her shoes on her way down the hall. She once again reached the main floor, this time going through the double doors leading to the front yard. At the 4th of July party she had seen small paths leading into the woods surrounding the X-Mansion, and figured a run in the woods would clear her head. She set off around back, not hearing the footsteps on the steps leading to the sidewalk around the mansion. So, when a hand clamped onto her shoulder, her instincts took over and she turned, her leg coming up to hit whoever it was in the side, pushing them sideways and knocking the wind out of them. Logan only took half a step to the side so that her leg bouncing off of him wouldn't knock Seirra on her butt.  
"Where d'ya think yer going?" he demanded, his hand still on her shoulder. She was the same height as he was, and stood eye-to-eye with him.  
"I have no clue, but I'll know when I get there," she responded. She saw him seem to debate something inside his head, and he seemed to come to a decision.  
"Can you drive?" he asked, taking a step back.  
"That depends. What would I be driving?"  
"A '94 Harley Sportster," he responded after a moment. She just arched her eyebrows at him.  
"And where am I going to find a '94 Harley Sportster?" She anticipated his answer, but was still slightly surprised by it.  
"Next to my bike." And with that Logan turned and started walking away. Sierra made a split second decision and followed him. He seemed to know she would, and tossed her a helmet when they reached the garage. "This's the only field trip yer gettin', so enjoy it," he grumbled as she pulled on her helmet and he tossed her the keys. "And for the love of everythin', don't scratch 'er." He grabbed his own keys and settled himself on his bike, not starting his engine until she was settled on the Sportster. She followed him out of the garage, out of the gates, and down the road, eventually pulling up beside to him after the glow of the lights of Bayville had faded behind them. She felt the cool wind grasping at her clothes and swirling around her wings, which she'd tucked tightly against her back, and smiled inside her helmet. Logan might be "slightly rude and stand-off-ish" but he knew what she needed. She stopped counting the towns the sped through, and just enjoyed the ride, the feeling of the wind, and the joy of being totally and completely free. Eventually, they stopped for food and gas, but then they were back on the road. They eventually turned around, once they reached the "Welcome to West Virginia" sign, after passing through Pittsburgh. When they got back the next day, Logan simply took her helmet and keys, put them in their spots, and walked out of the garage.  
"Nice driving," he called back to her, almost as an afterthought. She just smiled and ran a hand through her hair, yawning.  
_Welcome back,_ Sierra heard in her head.  
_I'm sorry about that, I just needed some time to clear my head,_ she thought back.  
_It's quite alright. We're used to Logan doing it, and he informed me that you were with him as you left.  
Thank you, Professor,_ she thought, yawning again.  
_I think a nice nap is in order, _she thought to herself, walking out into the late morning sunlight.

* * *

**Hey guys! Sorry it took so long, but Life was like "Hey, let's give her all this junk to deal with at once! Lol, this'll be fun." Well played, Life, well played. Yeah, so anyway, I know I said that there would be KittyxKurt in this story, but I (being me) changed my mind and decided that I wanted LancexKitty and KurtxAmanda, because I can cause soooo much more drama that way. }:D So, I hope you like it, I promise something more interesting is coming soon, but for now this'll have to do. Remember, reviews make the world go 'round! Flames welcome. Thanks guys!  
-IceQueen2196**


	6. Hide-and-Seek Extreme and Shopping

Sierra opened her eyes and stretched, arching her back and yawning. She hadn't bothered changing before crashing that morning, and still smelled slightly of exhaust and fresh air. She stood and stretched again, feeling her newly strengthened muscles moving and flexing beneath her skin. The door opened, and Hank stood there.  
"Oh, good, you're awake. The Professor sent me down to tell you that we have your room ready, and to see if you need any help with anything." She quickly shoved everything into her backpack that she had unpacked, and followed Hank. He led her up to the girls' floor, and opened the door to a room at one end of the hallway. "The floor bathroom is the third door down the hall, but the Professor gave you a room with your own bathroom," he said, opening a door into a small room, just large enough to hold a shower stall with a frosted glass door, a sink, a toilet, and some shelves. "Jean is the 'dean' of the floor, so she's the one who's going to be doing room checks. If you have any more questions, ask her. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach and I'm late already." And with that he swept out of the room, with grace only he could manage. She threw her backpack down on the bed, and started to explore. Her room had a queen size bed, with green sheets, pillowcases, and comforter, and a nightstand with a clock, a desk, a small vanity and its own personal balcony. The drapes over the glass doors to the balcony matched the bedspread. The bathroom already had towels and wash cloths, and one of those cool color-changing light-up shower heads. She opened the empty closet, and found a dresser and some empty hangers. Unzipping her backpack, she dumped out her entire life. Her clothes fell out, then a small make-up bag with the stuff she used to cover her bruises, a first-aid kit, a small flashlight, an old, worn wallet, a picture in a frame, a pencil case with her hair gel, shampoo, conditioner, and soap identical to the kind found at gas stations all over the country, a small cloth bag, four rolls of duct tape, and a pair of earrings. She carefully unzipped the back pocket, and took out her most expensive possession; her laptop. She had taken money from Dave in small increments, where and when he wouldn't miss it. She had combined that with the money she got doing odd jobs around town before her physical mutation had become obvious, and had eventually had enough for it. She had snuck out of the house one night and bought it from the local electronics store, and had hidden it from Dave. Not that he would care. She hung up her clothes, setting the ones that needed to be washed aside, put her stuff away, put her laptop on the desk, and sat down on the bed, picking up the picture. It was a little girl with her parents, standing with a dog in front of a house. The little girl was in her father's arms, and was grinning at the camera, her black hair blowing in the breeze and her blue eyes sparkling. The mother had one arm around the father's waist and the other hand was tickling the baby. Her red/brown hair blew in the breeze too, and her blue eyes matched her daughter's. The father had the arm that wasn't holding the girl around the mother's waist, and his black hair was cropped short enough that it didn't blow, but his green eyes twinkled with laughter. Mastermind the Great Dane sat in front of them, the only one that was looking at the camera. Sierra ran her fingers over the glass covering the picture.  
_Would you be proud of me?_ she thought, looking at the picture of her and her parents. This had been taken on her first birthday. A single tear traced its way down her face and fell to the picture, where she quickly brushed it off. She set the picture on the nightstand, next to the clock, and walked over to the balcony doors. Twisting the handles, she opened the doors wide, letting in a fresh breeze. She snagged the small cloth bag from where she'd put it, on the corner of the desk. It fit comfortably on her palm as she widened the neck and dumped a few seeds onto her palm. She pulled the drawstrings tight and put the bag back on the desk, dumping the seeds over the side of the railing to the ground below. She had seen ivy on the building, and it didn't look like they were trying to get rid of it, so she figured a few more vines would hurt. Walking back to the railing, she leaned over slightly and held her arms out, palms to the ground. Her forehead creasing in concentration, she slowly lifted one arm, so that it was pointing towards the cloudless sky. She quickly lowered it as she slowly raised the other arm, small green sparks drifting from her fingertips. She repeated this process a few times, and saw the seeds sprout down below her. Then she lowered both arms and began to raise them together, more sparks coming from her fingers. Soon, the vines were halfway to her balcony, carefully avoiding covering any other windows. Sierra was tired again by the time the vines reached the bottom of her balcony. Concentrating harder, she pushed a final burst of sparks from her hands, watching as the vines curled up and around her balcony, twining over and around the railing and the supports holding it up. She wiped a sheen of sweat from her forehead as she stepped back and admired her handiwork. A knocking at the door pulled her away, and she quickly shut the balcony doors and pulled the drapes behind her as she went to answer the door. Jean stood there, a smile on her face.  
"Hi! I wouldn't bother you, but Beast stopped by my room on his way out, and asked me to see if you had any questions, because he had to leave so quickly," she said, stepping into Sierra's room as Sierra stepped back to make room for her. She looked around, seeing how Sierra had already moved herself in. "It looks like you're already comfortable. There's a laundry room downstairs, on the second floor. We're supposed to do our own laundry, but most of the guys just leave their dirty stuff in a basket in there. Because my room is next to the bathroom, I personally ask that no one takes showers at unholy hours of the night, but you won't have to worry because you have your own. Clean towels and things are in the closet with the white door down the hall, and you can leave your dirty ones in front of your room at night and they'll be taken to laundry. We usually have breakfast and lunch together, both of which you've missed. But they're not mandatory, because some of the students choose to train during one of the mealtimes, but the Professor asks that we all be present for dinner, unless you have a session scheduled for extra help with something, or aren't at the mansion. We have WiFi, password 'gifted.' Guys are not allowed on the floor and we aren't allowed on their floor before eight or after ten. If you have a guy in your room or are in his room, the door has to be open. Pranks can't hurt anyone, or do any property damage, and we aren't allowed to bet on new students. Not that that stops them. Ororo and I are always available to talk, as are the Professor and Mr. McCoy. I'm assuming you'll be starting Bayville High next year. Most of the students here attend, the only exception being Jamie, who attends Bayville Middle School. Some of the others and I are going to the mall later, and were wondering if you wanted to come with us," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear and talking with her hands. Sierra was surprised at the invitation, and looked at herself in the vanity mirror.  
"And the citizens of Bayville would welcome me into their mall, looking like this?" she asked, motioning to herself in the mirror.  
"Well, we would get you an Image Inducer. Like what Kurt has, and what Mr. McCoy wore to pick you up. You could have the Professor make you look any way you want." Sierra thought it over.  
"Let's go see the Professor," she decided, walking to the door. Jean followed her, then led her to the Professor's office, knocking lightly on the door.  
"Come in," he called. We walked in, and Jean explained what they wanted. The Professor thought it over for a second, then smiled and nodded.  
"Getting out with people your own age will be good for you," he said, wheeling out from behind his desk. "Now, how do you want to look?" Sierra asked him to wait for a second, and ran up to her room, grabbing her picture from the nightstand, and running back to his office. She showed him the picture, showing him what she had looked like when she looked human.  
"Could you make me look like me again?" she asked hopefully. "Not change anything besides my skin color, eyes, and wings?" The Professor nodded the affirmative and rolled off, telling the girls to stop by before they left, to pick up the Inducer. When they got back to their floor, a bunch of girls were gathered in front of the door both Hank and Jean had indicated as the bathroom. A notice was posted on the door, scrawled in permanent marker on a piece of paper and taped up. It said, "The boys challenge the girls to a game of Hide-an-Seek Extreme. Nine guys have hidden all over the grounds. We are not saying who. No one is in the mansion. You will have exactly 90 minutes to find and tag all the guys. They will use their powers to try and stop you. You may not ask assistance from any other boys or any teachers, but powers are allowed. All guys that have been found will meet on the front steps of the Institute, and won't talk to any other guys until they get there. Your time starts when the grandfather clock sounds 1:30. If, and when, you give up, have the Professor or Jean send out a telepathic message of surrender. Good luck" Just as Jean and Sierra finished reading, the clock chimed 1:30. All the girls looked at Jean.  
"Well, let's go find us some boys," she said. "Split up into two teams. Rahne, Rogue, Tabby, Danielle, Sierra, Wanda, team one. Take the east side of the grounds. The rest of you with me as team two. Team two takes the west. Let me know when you find and tag a boy." With that they split up, one team going up the hall and the other going down it, to the stairs. Sierra paused as her team went outside and rounded the building, taking a path into the woods. There was a rustling that was too large to be a rabbit and two loud to be a deer in the bushes forty yards to her right. She motioned to my team to pause, and listened carefully. The rustling came again, along with a quiet giggle.  
"_Jamie_," she mouthed to the other girls. Then the same rustling and giggling came from twenty yards to her left. And again behind her. She looked at her team in confusion.  
_He can multiply himself_, Rogue wrote in the dirt on the path. Sierra nodded, and raised her nose to the wind. Just as she suspected, the copies Jamie made of himself didn't have a scent. Her enhanced senses easily caught the real Jamie's scent, and she pointed to a spot thirty yards or so beyond them to the right of the path. Rahne smiled and bent down, transforming into a small wolf.  
_Guess that's why they call her Wolfsbane,_ Sierra thought as the other girl took off into the bushes. The rest of team one crept up the path, staying silent to not alert Jamie they were there. The could see Rahne trotting along in plain sight, sniffing things and going after butterflies. The rest of her team thought she'd gone mad, until Jamie saw her.  
"Awwwww! Here wolfie, wolfie, wolfie," he called, crouching down and holding out a hand. Rahne trotted over and sniffed his hand, then tapped him with her nose.  
"Tag," she said, transforming back into her human form. Jamie looked shocked, then sat down and pouted.  
"How did you find me?" he wailed. The girls looked surprised at this childish outburst, but Sierra knew exactly what he was doing. She quickly ran over and clapped a hand over his mouth, silencing any more loud cries the boy would try.  
"Well, now that any boys within hearing distance know where we are, and that we got Jamie, we should hurry," she said, standing after making sure he wouldn't speak again.  
"That was some pretty fancy sniffin'," Rogue said. "Nice work."  
"Jean says that they got Bobby," Danielle said from the back of our group. The rest of them nodded, and Wanda walked back to the path, leading them along until another path joined their path. She took the new path without pausing, her confident steps slowing as they neared a bend.  
"Pietro," she whispered, crouching down and moving some brush aside so the other girls could see. The speedster wasn't even trying to hide, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed in plain sight. Wanda pointed to Tabby, then made a motion for her to go around. The blond crept off and Wanda stood up, walking out onto the path. She started walking, looking around in confusion and anger once she got around the curve in the path. Pietro saw her instantly, and chuckled.  
"They sent you all out alone? Wow, Red really _is_ tactically challenged," he said.  
"No," Wanda growled, stopping and glaring at him. "My team ditched me, and now I can't find them. You haven't seen a group of three or four preppy girls walk past here, giggling, gossiping, and playing with their hair?"  
"Nope, sorry sis. And don't even think about tagging me, we both know that I could easily outrun you." Wanda smiled.  
"Oh, I'm not trying to tag you. I'm trying to distract you." That was when Tabby reached around the tree and tagged Pietro on the shoulder.  
"Tag cutie, you're it," she said, walking the rest of the way around the tree. The rest of the girls stood up and walked around to meet up with them.  
"Oh, look, I've found my team. See you later, brother," Wanda said, turning to point back to the mansion. Pietro pouted and ran off, kicking up a dust cloud. They continued on, Rogue in the lead, until she motioned to them to stop. She crouched down and began to crawl through the underbrush, making very little noise. The girls all followed her, until they reached a small pocket on the edge of a clearing. Remy stood in the clearing, whistling as he shuffled his deck of cards.  
"Come on out, _ma chere_," he called. "I know you're there. Remy knows everything." We all stood and walked into the clearing, following Rogue's lead.  
"Looks like you're too good for us, Remy," she said, making her rich Southern accent even smoother on his name. "Too smart to be tricked by some girls." Remy looked proud of himself. "But tell me, did whoever thought this up tell you what would happen to us girls if we lost?" He deflated a little bit.  
"No. They didn't tell Remy nuthin', but to hide in the woods and not get tagged by the girls." Rogue nodded.  
"That's what I thought. They didn't want you worrying about us, wanted you to make sure we lost," she said, looking at the ground. "Right girls?" We all nodded and mumbled confirmation of what she'd said.  
"What did they threaten?" Remy asked, looking closer at Rouge's face. "What did the say they'd do to you?" Rogue looked back at us, panic in her eyes. She'd gotten us this far, but she had no idea what the guys had 'threatened' to do to us. Danielle stepped forward and put her hand on Rogue's shoulder.  
"It's okay, I'll tell him," she murmured to the other girl, loud enough for Remy to overhear. She turned to look at him. "Have you ever thought about what we'd all look like bald?" she asked, running her fingers through her own hair and flipping Rogue's for emphasis. Remy looked shocked. Rogue stepped forward, opening her arms slightly. Remy took the hint, and stepped into her hug. After a few seconds, she pulled back slightly. "Yeah, neither have we," Danielle said, grinning. Remy looked confused.  
"Tag," Rogue said, running her hand down his cheek. He paused for a second, then grinned, knowing he'd been had.  
"Clever girls," he said, stepping out of Rogue's arms and heading back towards the mansion.  
"Team two has gotten Scott and Kurt," Danielle said as the girls got back to the path. Sierra thought for a moment. Only three more guys to go, and almost half an hour left of their time. They could totally do this. Rahne and Seirra took the lead the this time, agreeing at all the turns and twists without speaking. Finally, they found another boy. Ray was in another clearing, this time one the path cut straight through. He was sitting on a stump, looking bored. Sierra had an idea and grinned, motioning for the other girls to spread around the perimeter of the clearing. Then she backed up a ways and snuck out of the bushes, sprinting along the path towards Ray's clearing. She burst into the clearing and skidded to a stop, pretending to notice Ray.  
"Help me!" she gasped, looking, panicked, behind her. "It's coming!"  
"What is it?" Ray asked, leaping up. "What's coming?" Sierra ran over and hid behind him. He scanned the forest, but couldn't see any movement.  
"The girls' victory," Sierra said, tapping his arm. "Tag." Ray looked shocked that he'd been duped so easily, but admitted defeat gracefully, grinned, and started back for the mansion. The girls continued on, Danielle getting reports from and giving reports to Jean occasionally. With only five minutes left on their time, the two teams met back at the mansion. Once all the girls were gathered around the fountain, across the drive from the boys on the steps, Jean began to talk.  
"We've found eight of nine boys; Scott, Kurt, Bobby, Sam, Jamie, Pietro, Remy, and Ray. Kitty checked the mansion, and only Beast was missing, and the Professor said he'd gone into town with an Image Inducer for some things he needed. All the other guys were easy to find, they were all playing video games in the common room of their floor, which means that they aren't in the game. Even Logan was easy to find, working on his bike by the garage." She put her head in her hands in frustration. "Who is it, and where could they be?" The guys snickered from the steps.  
"Give up now, you'll never win!" Bobby called. Then Sierra had an idea. Jean's words echoed inside her head. "'_Even Logan was easy to find, working on his bike in the garage._'" She took off, the rest of the girls calling in confusion after her. But she didn't slow down, sprinting around the corner and up the drive towards the garage, hearing someone follow her. Logan was on the ground, his head under his bike and tinkering. Laura stepped up beside her, barely out of breath.  
"Can I do somethin' for ya?" Logan asked from underneath his bike. Laura just smiled, understanding what Sierra was thinking.  
"Just one question. How long have you been laying under there, bored out of your skull?" Sierra asked.  
"I'm trying to work on my bike here. Take your questions and scram," he growled, bringing up his other hand to support whatever he was tightening.  
"You might be able to work a little bit better, if you had a wrench," Laura said, kicking the set over to him with the toe of her boot. "Tag." She reached down and touched his leg. Laura looked at her watch, which she'd set with a timer for their 90 minutes.  
"Thirty seconds to spare. Good work," she said. "That was a smart idea." Logan pushed his way out from under his bike, and walked to the steps.  
"I hope this has been a lesson to you all." He looked at the girls, as Sierra and Laura re-joined them. "You must be ready for the unexpected, and learn to look at everything from multiple points of view, all while under pressure. We didn't ever lie to you, but you had to be clever to figure out who the last person was, as well as how to tag the others." He turned to the boys. "Can anyone tell me what you learned today?" All of the guys looked around, at the sky, the ground, their feet, the woods, anywhere but Logan. "Concentrate on the task at hand, don't get distracted, keep your guard up." He turned back towards the garage. "Oh, and don't underestimate a group of girls, _especially_ when their abilities have been called into question." And he walked away, whistling.  
"So, how about we hit the showers, and then the mall?" Jean asked after a second. This was met with hearty cheers and a mad dash up the steps and into the mansion. Sierra quickly made her way back to her room, stripping and stepping into the cold shower. She grinned with a primitive delight as she took a fast shower, quickly gelling her hair up into the spikes it had been in on her first day, at the party. Slipping into her only clean pair of pants, and an old t-shirt, she padded out of the room, slipping on her beat-up pair of tennis shoes as she walked out the door. Walking out the door, she went to the Professor's office. Lightly knocking, she opened the door a crack.  
"Ah, Sierra. Come in," he called, pulling a watch from a drawer. He set it on the desk, indicating for her to sit in the chair across from him. "I finished your Inducer. I trust I don't have to give you the speech about using it responsibly? Kurt has many stories of what can happen if you mess with the programming. He can also help you with any questions you have. Try this on so that we can see how it looks." Sierra picked up the watch and strapped it onto her left wrist, pressing the button the Professor indicated. The watch emitted a small hum, but Sierra couldn't see any difference. The Professor smiled and held up a small mirror. Sierra was shocked. There, in the mirror, was a girl. She reached out and ran a finger along the side of the face in the mirror, seeing the high cheekbones, silvery freckles, and dark blue eyes of a _human_ girl. The Professor had recreated her face exactly as it would have been, if she had not mutated. She twisted, so she could see her back. Where she had cut slits to free her wings from her t-shirt, there were no marks. "I will program outfits into the Inducer, but because I didn't have time for you to help me choose them, for now it has just scanned your outfit and hidden your mutation. This makes it harder for the Inducer though, so be careful about using your wings, because it won't be able to hide them. Now, I believe you have a shopping trip to get to. Go have fun," he said, motioning to the doorway. She stood, thanked him, and ran out, colliding with Evan in the hall.  
"Yo, watch it! I just got these shoes!" he said, stumbling back.  
"Sorry, Evan. Wasn't watching where I was going," Sierra said, taking a step forward to see if he was okay.  
"Oh, Sierra! No, it's cool. You didn't-" He cut himself off, looking up after checking his shoes. "I-that is, you-I mean...You got your Inducer?" His dusty blush stained his cheekbones, and he looked down, scuffing his new shoes on the carpet.  
"Yeah! What do you think?" Sierra asked, spinning in front of him, not noticing his sudden discomfort.  
"I think you look beau- human! I think you look very human," he said, quickly ducking his head. "Jean and the others sent me to find you, we're all waiting," he said after a moment. Sierra nodded.  
"Duh!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him down the hall, bursting into the lobby. "Let's go!" she said, running over to Jean and the rest of the girls. Evan went over to the guys, and was immediately mobbed.  
"Who is zat?" Kurt asked loudly, pointing to Sierra. It was then that she noticed the other girls were looking at her oddly too. Even Jean was looking at her oddly. Sierra grinned at Scott.  
"You're right, your team is _fantastically_ observant," she called across the lobby. "A simple Image Inducer and I'm a stranger!" Everyone's eyes widened as she flipped the Inducer off, then back on. "Wow you guys, really nice. Don't recognize me when I don't look like a freak. Now, are we going to stand around gaping all day, or go shopping?" This snapped everyone out of it, and the mad scramble for the X-Van began, everyone pushing, shoving, and yelling, trying to get the best seats. They ended up going in both the X-Van and Scott's car. After who was driving the Van was established, fought over, then established again, they finally left. Of course, the noise and fighting started again, over who was shopping with whom, where they were shopping, and everything else.

.X.

Eventually, they just split up into boys and girls, agreeing to meet at the fountain at six thirty. Then they went their separate ways. The first thing the girls did was pull Sierra into a little shop on the second floor, full of dresses, pink frilly things, and other objects that Sierra loathed. She noticed that Laura had disappeared in the time it took to get from the car to the shop, and quickly understood why. The girls proceeded to grab all sorts of dresses, running around and holding things up to each other and themselves. Sierra was pushed against a wall with a mirror, and then things were pushed at her and pulled away so fast she barely had a chance to see them. Finally, Jean, seeing the look on the poor girl's face, got the other girls' attention.  
"How about we go try on our stuff now?" she suggested, then stepped out of the way of the mad rush to the fitting rooms, following after them with her own armload of stuff.  
_I'm going to go look around, I'll meet up with you guys later,_ Sierra thought at Jean, walking out of the store. She had her wallet, with all of her money in it, in her back pocket, but she knew she didn't have enough to buy anything in the store. Instead, she walked down to the pet store, pausing to watch the puppies play in a pen by the window. Without meaning to, she wandered in, going to stand by a pen of kittens. Most of the little balls of fluff were curled up, fast asleep, but one of them was wide awake, chasing a catnip mouse all over the enclosure.  
"What do you mean, you don't know what to do with him! This mutt just tried to maul me! Call animal control, lock him up, put him down, I don't care! But do something! That dog is a menace to society! I'm a dog-whisperer, and I say there is nothing you can do for that thing!" a man yelled, from somewhere in the back of the shop. Sierra followed the sound of the manager trying to calm the man to the back, where there were rooms where people thinking of adopting a pet could spend some time with them, while they weren't in a cage. A man in his mid-thirties was gesturing angrily to a room Sierra assumed he'd just exited, where a Great Dane was laying on the floor, looking rather pleased with himself. The half-door was low enough that if the dog was standing, Sierra knew his head could hang over the top. She froze, taking a closer look at the dog. He looked exactly like Mastermind had, down to the smug look in his eyes. Without realizing what she was doing, Sierra slowly opened the door and walked in, the manager too occupied with the man to notice. The dog looked up at her, a look that seemed to say '_Really_?' in his eyes. He stood and stretched lazily, even bigger than Sierra had thought he would be. Standing, his shoulders came up to her waist, and his head was about rib height. She reached out and gently scratched the white star on his right shoulder. The dog responded instantly, his head rolling to the side and a whine coming out of his mouth as he started to pant and his back leg started to thump the floor. The noise got the manager's attention, and he looked over. When he saw a teenage girl in the room, he started to freak out, yelling at Sierra to get out, the dog was dangerous. When she didn't seem to hear him, the manager opened the door and tried to pull her out. The dog, seeing the manager trying to manhandle Sierra, growled and put himself between the two of them.  
"No," Sierra said, laying a hand on the dog's head. "Bad dog. This man is okay." The dog cocked his head at her, then backed up to sit at her side, whining. The manager was shocked. The dog had belonged to one of his friends. But when his friend had realized how violent the dog was, he had called the manager, knowing he had a pet store, and wondering if he had any advice. The manager said he would try some things with the dog, but nothing worked. The friend gave the dog to the manager, but he still hadn't been able to calm him. Any time anyone went within ten feet of the dog, he would growl and snap at them. Even the dog-whisperer the manager had hired hadn't been able to do anything. But this girl had the dog under her thumb after less than a minute. Sierra smiled and crouched down, rubbing his ears. She grabbed his collar and read the tag. "Antix. Well, it's good to meet you, Antix. But I have to go, I'm not supposed to be here." And she stood, walking out and pushing the manager ahead of her. Once she had shut the door behind her, she looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it," she started, but the manager cut her off.  
"Young woman, I don't know who you are, but I should be thanking you. That dog was unbreakable, violent, and needed to be put down. But you seemed to have fixed him!" Then the manager, who Sierra saw was named Mr. Jameson, tried to go into the room. Antix was instantly in a defensive position, growling threateningly. Mr. Jameson quickly backed out. He tried this a few more times, with the same results. Then Sierra pushed him aside and stepped in. Instead of growling, Antix flopped down and rolled onto his back, asking for tummy rubs. Sierra smiled and obliged, kneeling next to him and scratching the huge dog's belly. Mr. Jameson was flabbergasted when she stood and walked out. "I guess the likes you," was all he said, walking behind the counter. He reached down and pulled a long leash out from underneath, and walked back to Sierra. "On behalf of Cutie Pie Pets, I'd like to give you Antix. We would supply a year of grooming free, and the first two months of dogfood as well," he added, seeing her start to turn him down.  
"I don't have any money. I have no way to pay for him, or anything he'd need," Sierra replied, looking wistfully at Antix. "I would love to take him, but I can't." She looked sadly at her feet. Mr. Jameson motioned to her to wait, and went into a back room. He emerged with food and water bowls, a bed large enough for Antix, a bone, and a squeaky toy.  
"We order these things as a set, and we got an extra set in our last order. Please, if you don't take him, I'll have to put him down." Sierra looked over at Antix, who was standing at the door, his head over it and looking around.  
"Okay, give me a second," Sierra said, walking out. She leaned against the glass, and opened her mind. Jean, is anyone at the Institute allergic to dogs? she asked.  
No, why? Jean quickly answered.  
Are we allowed to have pets? Sierra asked, answering her question with a question.  
Yes, you may keep him, the Professor's voice echoed in her mind.  
"Yes!" Sierra cheered, running back into the store. Mr. Jameson was back behind the counter, the stuff piled on one end. He hung up the phone and walked around the counter. Sierra grabbed the leash. "You're serious about this?" she asked, looking between Mr. Jameson and Antix.  
"Of course," he said.  
"You have a deal," Sierra said, and held out her hand to shake. They shook, and Mr. Jameson bagged up the stuff, fitting it all into one bag, as Sierra put the leash on Antix. Mr. Jameson had her sign some papers, and then told her Antix was all hers. She started wandering around the mall, Antix by her side. Mr. Jameson had called security, and told them about her 'buying' the dog, so she wouldn't get in trouble. She had just gone into the food court when she heard shouting by one of the tables. Walking over to see what all the fuss was about, she saw Evan in a face-off against a group of guys. The rest of the X-Men boys were ordering food, and didn't notice what was going on. Sierra put a little bit more swing in her hips as she walked up.  
"Hey, Evan, what's up?" she asked, ignoring the guys. He seemed shocked to see her, and didn't even notice Antix, shooting Sierra a 'get-out-of-here' look. She just smiled and looped her arm through his. She watched the other guys from the corner of her eye. They looked confused, but were quickly getting angry at being interrupted then ignored. "I was thinking about walking Antix home, later. You wanna come with me?" she asked, pressing herself slightly closer to his side. He looked confused, then seemed to notice the huge dog standing beside her.  
"Ummmm, sure?" The other guys were now very upset at being ignored.  
"Excuse me, we're trying to have a conversation here," one said, glaring at Sierra.  
"Excuse me, I'm trying to have a moment here," she shot back, glaring at them.  
"Hey, Daniels. Who's your pretty girlfriend?" the leader said.  
"If I wanted you to know who I was, I would've introduced myself," Sierra said, looking him in the eye.  
"Let's hope your bite isn't as bad as your bark," he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively. She just smirked.  
"I can guarantee it is, but it's not even close to his bite," she said, motioning to Antix. The guys' eyes widened, and they began to back slowly away.  
"We'll finish this another time, Daniels," the leader called, and they all turned to leave.  
"No, don't worry. I'm done here." She turned to Evan. "Trust me," she mouthed, right before she hugged him, then kissed him on the cheek. "Pretend I'm your girlfriend," she whispered as she pulled away. Then she turned and walked away, towards the other guys, who had looked over at Evan just in time to witness her little moment de passion. They were all standing there with pretty much identical expressions of shock on their faces when she reached them.  
"Don't stare! Act like it's normal!" she snapped, pushing past them and ordering a smoothie. When she turned around with smoothie in one hand and bag in the other hand, Antix's leash roped around the wrist that was not involved with the hand that was holding her smoothie, the guys had turned their gaping gazes on her.  
"Vat vas zat? You just flirted vith Evan in front of his biggest rival, now zat he and Pietro are okay. Do you not know who zat is?" Kurt asked, his jaw somewhere around his knees.  
"Nope!" she said cheerfully.  
"Zat is Adam Billian, son of ze second richest man in Bayville, the first being ze Professor. Vhy vould you mess vith him?"  
"Hmm? Oh, I love messing with guys like them." She pointed to the group, who now looked to be threatening Evan. "One of the pastimes I was constantly getting in trouble for at home; sticking up for myself when people would attack me for being a freak taught me how to play people. Now, watch. In three...two...one." Exactly when her countdown ended, the leader looked past Evan, at her. Just for fun, she blew him a kiss, and turned back to the boys. "Tol'ja. Predictable," she said, taking a sip of her smoothie. The nonchalant prop had cost her four dollars, but it was worth it, in her opinion. Just then, a scuffle broke out between Evan and Adam, Adam trying to hit Evan. Sierra rolled her eyes as Evan easily ducked. He was about to punch Adam back when the X-Women showed up, and Kitty and Tabby grabbed his arms and drug him away. Then they walked past the rest of the group, grabbing Sierra and dragging her along as well. Antix trotted along behind her, happily panting as Scott scratched his head.  
"Okay, explain the dog, and Evan," Jean said once they were in the parking lot, where no one could hear them.  
"Well, this is a dog. It eats dog food, goes to the bathroom outside, and makes a noise commonly known as 'barking.' They also happen to be great guards for whe-"  
"I know what a dog is! Why do you have it?" Jean cut her off.  
"Oh, because otherwise he'd be put down, he reminded me of Mastermind, and the Professor said I could," Sierra said, taking another sip of her smoothie.  
"And what happened with Evan?"  
"I pretended to flirt with him in front of those boys, because the angrier they got the less control they'd have, and it would be interesting to see them get what they deserve from mall security." Her fingers tightened fractionally on her cup, the only sign of agitation. She remembered boys like them from her old town, and if she couldn't give them what they deserved, she'd settle for giving these guys what they deserve.  
"And what about the honeysuckle?" Sierra froze.  
"Wh-what honeysuckle?" she asked, silently cursing herself for stuttering.  
"You know what honeysuckle. I saw it when I checked to see if you were done with your shower yet. I know for a fact no honeysuckle grew on the mansion before, and now it's all over the balcony." Jean just looked at Sierra as she spoke, and Sierra couldn't look away, but she couldn't lie to Jean's face like that.  
"I grew it," she mumbled, just loud enough for the telepath to hear her. "That's my actual power, my physical mutation is just an extra. Like Kurt, his actual power is teleporting. Being able to hang by his tail is an extra." Jean just nodded and led them back to the cars, not looking at Sierra. No one else spoke to her on the ride to the mansion, though Evan did silently offer to help her carry her bags up to her room. Sierra declined, preferring to set up the dog in her room on her own, getting him water from her sink and scooping him some food from the big bag that Mr. Jameson had given her. She opened her balcony doors and sat with her back against the railing, smelling the sweet smell the beautiful red/orange honeysuckle released. She heard a door open below her, onto the back patio, and heard Jean and Charles' voices. With her enhanced senses, she could hear every word crystal clear.  
"It is understandable. With the trauma she has gone through, not telling us everything about herself at the very beginning is quite understandable. Necessary, even, to her. You must give her space, she will learn to trust you, in time," the Professor said, and Sierra could hear the whirr of his chair moving. She heard Jean's footsteps too.  
"But if she doesn't tell us such a vital piece of information about herself, how can we trust her? How do we know she isn't hiding anything else from us, or isn't a double agent? How do we know she isn't working for Hydra?" Jean asked, getting more and more upset.  
"That will also come in time. For now all you need to do is trust her," Charles responded, and Sierra heard him go back inside.  
"I don't," Jean muttered, walking around the corner, which took her right under Sierra's balcony.  
_Good for you Red. I don't trust you either,_ Sierra thought, walking back inside and shutting the doors behind her.

* * *

**Hey guys! Sorry I kind of disappeared off the face of the earth for a little bit, but I'm back! And to make up for it, I gave you guys an extra long chapter, that really should be two chapters but isn't! :D Don't you guys just love me? :P As always, review, pretty please! Love ya'll! I'll try to update soon!  
-IceQueen2196**


	7. School, Duncan, and Normal Life

Sierra groaned and rolled over, but the wetness followed her, not leaving her face alone. She shoved at it, groaning as the last bits of sleep were taken away from her. A loud panting filled her ears, and she groggily opened her eyes, a large face poised just above hers. With another groan, she pushed Antix off of her, and sat up. She rubbed her eyes, looking around. Pale sunlight filtered into the room through the shut drapes over the doors, and Antix scratched at the door. Sierra looked at her alarm clock. 5:30 in the morning. She should have time to walk Antix, get in a training session, and a quick shower, before she'd have to pull on some clothes and go with the Professor and the others to register for school in the fall. Antix scratched again, and whined, pleading with her to hurry. She pulled on a pair of shoes and grabbed his leash, quietly letting them both out of her room. She had only had the large dog for a few weeks, but it felt like she had known him forever, the way they both seemed to know what the other wanted. They quietly jogged down the stairs and out the front door, cutting across the lawn to get to the woods.  
Once they were safely hidden by trees, Sierra knelt and unlatched the leash from Antix's collar, letting the big dog run around. She began to jog down the path, the dog dashing back and forth after birds and squirrels. She completed a lap of the curving path, coming out of the woods near where she had entered. She quickly snapped the leash back on Antix, walking back up to her room, breathing slightly heavier. She left the dog in her room, taking the elevator down to the Danger Room, where she changed into her uniform in the locker room. The tight black sleeveless top came up into a high Oriental-looking collar, but it kept the back open so she could still use her wings. The black cargo pants tucked into her black, flexible boots, and black fingerless gloves completed her outfit.  
She walked into the Danger Room, and chose the program she wanted. All of a sudden, she was teleported to a forest, and she took off through the trees, listening for sounds other than her own breathing and footsteps. Finally, she heard them, making noise to her left. She didn't know what enemies the program would give her this time, but she was ready. They were crashing through the trees, making no move to hide their location. She nimbly scaled a tree, looking towards the noise. Three large man/beast things, covered in brown and black fur, and looking like gorillas crossed with pit bulls, on steroids, were lumbering through the forest, noses raised and sniffing. She had faced these things before, and felt her heart beat speed at the thrill of the coming chase, even if she was the prey. She clambered down the tree, her feet hitting the ground as the first thing let out a bellow, signaling that it had caught her scent. She took off, running at roughly a 135 degree angle to them, so the would have to re-find her scent when they reached the place she had been. She leapt over a shallow stream, her extra-strong leg muscles easily clearing the water.  
She slowly began to curve her path on the other side, until about a mile of running later she was back at the stream. This time, she splashed right into it, running downstream over the loose rocks. She had just paused for a break when she heard them, about a half-mile upstream, snuffling and snorting. She looked down at her watch, which had the stopwatch of how much longer she had before the simulation would end, if she wasn't caught. She had fifteen more minutes. Cake. She stood and cut through the brush, leaving the beasts on the far side of the water. She climbed another tree, looking to see if she could find them. They were closer than she'd thought, less than a quarter of a mile away, though still on the other side of the creek. She slid down, taking off in the opposite direction. She heard them split up, coming at her from behind and both of her flanks. She sped up, trying to out-run them. Too late, she realized it was a trap.  
They had been steering her into a small canyon, with only one exit. She turned, her back pressed against the wall, and watched as the three monsters lumbered closer. She looked at her watch, shouldn't the simulation be over by now? Her watch showed a big 00:00, but the program showed no signs of stopping. Why wasn't the program ending? Was it broken? Shizz! The only thing she could do was wait it out, and who knew how long that would take! Of course, she could see if calling an end would stop it. But then she would be saying she couldn't outlast a projection. But she still had the beasts to deal with. Her only option was to fight. She'd never had to fight these things before, but there was a first time for everything, right?  
Her strong legs propelled her forward, towards the one in front. She spun in midair, and hit it straight in the face, feet-first. She pushed off before gravity could claim her, knocking it back a couple more steps. The other two leapt at her as one, sharp talons raking the air, casing her to leap backwards. She landed and stumbled, falling to her knees. All three began to converge on her again, the one she had kicked moving more slowly than the other two. She reached out her hand instinctively, looking for anything to help her or use as a weapon. She could find nothing besides some loose gravel, which she knew would be ineffective against the monsters. But she threw it anyway. She was right, the only thing it did was enrage them, causing them to come faster. She knew that she could call an end to the program any time she wanted, but refused to give up. She also wasn't sure it would work; the programming had already failed to shut it down after the set amount of time. Then the first one leapt into the air to attack her again. Just before it could sink its talons into her, the forest, the canyon, and the monsters fizzled out of existence. Would the beasts have actually hurt her, or would they just be projections? She lay on the floor of the Danger Room for a moment, panting, before looking up at the Control Room. Logan was standing there, looking down at her. The speakers crackled to life.  
"It's not weakness to call end if you can't do it," he said, the usual no emotion showing in his voice. She growled deep in the back of her throat, pushed herself to her feet, and walked out. Who was he, to scare her like that? She thought that the program was malfunctioning; she didn't know what was going to happen, if she could escape the simulation. She fumed her way into the locker room to grab her clothes, up to her room, and into the shower. Then she had to admit to herself that he was right. Since that day at the mall, when they found out she'd been hiding stuff from them, everyone stopped talking to her, and pretty much even looking at her. She got commands in training from Scott, and the usual 'pass-the-butter' requests at dinner, but other than that, everyone ignored her. Well, almost everyone. Evan still hung out with her, playing video games in his room, or trying to teach her how to skate on the ramp Logan and Ororo had built for him in the backyard. She found that somehow, when he was able to make me laugh so hard she was in danger of peeing my pants, or make her want to hit him so bad it took all her willpower not to, he managed to make up for the rest of the team ignoring her, at least a little. He was her best, and only, friend here. Even Scott and Kurt had become cold towards her. This, in turn, had made her pull back into myself, and not ask for help from anyone. Logan was right, she _could_ have called end to the program. But she wouldn't have, because that would be a form of asking for assistance, and admitting she couldn't do it.  
She didn't have very long to think about any of this, though, because she still had registration to get to. She quickly climbed out of the shower and dried off, pulling on some clothes. She and the Professor had programmed all of her favorite outfits into her Inducer, and she made sure that she was wearing the same clothes as the ones that would be projected; she learned the hard way that the closer the clothes matched up, the less likely someone would see the other clothes underneath. She hurried as fast as she could, and was still the last one to the foyer. She silently followed the rest of the kids registering to the X-Van, and sat in the back, making sure to not cause the awkwardness of looking someone in the eye. She heard the nervous chatter of "do-you-think-we'll-see-_" or "do-you-think-_'s-gotten-hotter?" She rested her head against the window. School. Another place to be a pariah. She felt someone fall into the seat next to her, which surprised her. Scott was driving his car too- even though he had graduated, he was being chauffeur- so there were enough seats that no one would even have to be on the bench with her, much less next to her.  
"I'll show you around, later," Evan offered after a moment. She made a non-committal noise in the back of her throat.  
"You don't have to be nice to me because your aunt or the Professor said to. I can do it myself," she snapped, still looking out the window. "I don't need your pity either." She was still rather snappish because of what Logan did.  
"Fine, be that way. Not my fault you're in a bad mood." He made a move to slide up to the seat where he had been sitting, in front of her. Without thinking, her hand shot out, resting on his thigh and stopping him.  
"I'm sorry, you're right. I had a bad morning, I shouldn't take it out on you," she mumbled, sitting back when she was sure he wasn't going to move. She couldn't make her one friend mad at her. He stayed perched on the edge of the seat, debating, then scooted back next to her. "And if the offer still stands, I'd love to have a tour later. I suck at finding my way around." He smiled a small smile.  
"Of course!" They chatted idly the rest of the way to Bayville High, laughing together as he helped her out of the Van. They followed the rest of the team into the school, the Professor and Ororo leading the way. They all registered, Evan and Sierra finishing first. "Come on," he called to her, leading her out into the almost-empty hallway. They walked around the school, Evan pointing out things and telling her about places. "This was Mr. McCoy's old room," he said, motioning to a chem. classroom. She smiled and looked inside. It looked like all of the other classrooms; she could imagine Hank in here, allowing his students to make stink bombs for class.  
"This place is so huge, much bigger than my old school," she said softly, not sure if she was talking to him or to herself.  
"Hey, it's not so bad, once you get used to it," he said, coming up behind her. "You'll fit in here. Trust me." She trusted him, but she wasn't popular-girl material; she hated shopping, would rather be playing the sports than cheering on the guys playing them, and trivial conversation about who was with whom was...well, trivial.  
"Yo, Daniels!" someone called from down the hall. Evan and Sierra turned to see who was speaking, and saw a group of guys, all holding skateboards. "It's been forever, man!" Evan ran down the hall, fist-bumping and back-slapping with the guys in greeting.  
"Yo guys, what's up?" she could hear him ask. She smiled for a brief moment at him and his friends, then turned to walk up the hall in the other direction, that they'd been heading in before. She turned the corner, and found the doors to the courtyard. She pushed them open and stepped outside, looking around at the plants growing. She loved the place already, if not the rest of the school. Without thinking she bent over and smelled one of the roses, inhaling the sweet scent.  
"Hey, babe," a voice said behind her. She whirled, and came face-to-face with a tall guy, broad and blond. "Haven't seen you around, are you a new freshman?" She could almost _smell_ the cockiness and over-confidence of this boy rolling off of him.  
"Sophomore, transfer," she answered. He took a half-step forward, his friends spreading out around them. They were all in letterman jackets, even though it was almost 85 degrees.  
"You're too beautiful to be a sophomore. Besides, I don't date sophomores," he said, giving her a chance to change her answer.  
"I'm Sierra," she said, sticking her hand out. He looked at it for a moment, then shook it.  
"Duncan. I'm the star of the football team." He grinned, like this was some great achievement.  
"Well, I have to go, my friend is waiting for me," she said, trying to slip past him. Now that she knew who he was, she could avoid him.  
"Hey, don't hurry away so fast. We're just getting to know each other," he said, one of his friends coming up to block her escape.  
"I really have to go," she said again, trying to duck out the other way. One of his other friends came up, and blocked her again.  
"Come on, stay. I can guarantee you'll be glad you did." A seductive note crept into his tone. His hand slowly inched its way to her waist, pulling her closer. She shoved him off and stepped back, using one hand on his chest to keep him at bay.  
"I can guarantee _you_'ll be wishing I hadn't stayed," she said, pushing him back farther.  
"Don't be like that," Duncan whined. She rolled her eyes. Now he was just getting annoying.  
"Too late. Now move, or I move you," she said, dropping all nice-girl acting. She was still upset from that morning.  
"Look, doll-face. You are getting the honor of my attention. Don't make me rethink giving it to you," he said, grabbing the hand that was still on his chest. She smirked.  
"I warned you," she snapped, and punched him in the jaw. He didn't stumble as far as she would have liked, though he did fall on his butt. But it was far enough. With one powerful jump she was over his head and on the other side of him, standing with her arms crossed and one toe tapping. "Oh, one more thing. If I ever see you again, don't talk to me." And she turned on her heel and walked out. She was glancing behind her without moving her head, so she didn't see Evan standing in the doorway until she ran into him.  
"Duncan Matthews," he growled, sounding agitated.  
"The blond prick who couldn't keep his hands to himself? Real charmer," she replied, grabbing Evan's wrist and pulling him into the building. They walked in silence until they re-joined the others.  
"Did he touch you?" Evan asked, stopping abruptly. Amara ran into him at his sudden halt, and glared as she picked herself up off the ground, but he didn't even seem to notice. Sierra just looked at him. "Duncan. Did that idiot touch you?" he repeated, louder. Sierra blushed and looked down.  
"Not really. Just harmless flirting," she said after a moment. She could feel the gazes of the entire team on the top of her head as she watched the toe of her shoe scuff the floor. "I dealt with it. Really, it's okay Evan," she reassured him. He just shook his head, growled in the back of his throat, and stalked to the X-Van. She kept her head down as she followed him, clambering into the back again. The ride back to the Institute was filled with girly chatter from the front, and brooding silence from the back, where Evan had joined Sierra again.  
Sierra couldn't understand why Evan was so upset, it wasn't like she had been raped in the middle of the school! She had dealt with her share of creeps and dirtbags before, and knew how to handle them. So why was a little part of her quietly happy that he was protective? She kept thinking about it as they pulled into the garage, and all climbed out. Hank was waiting for them inside, with a closed box, a grin on his face.  
"I seem to have made a small ordering mistake, and ordered four times as many test tubes as I meant to," he began. Sierra understood where this was going, and cheered.  
"Yes! Thanks Hank!" she yelled, hugging him. He had done this for her when she was little, though not on quite as large a scale. The rest of the team was looking at them in confusion as Hank gently put her down from scooping her up and returning the hug. She laughed at her teammates expressions. "Each tube comes wrapped in bubble wrap!" she said, childish delight morphing her usually sullen elven features into ones resembling a mischievous pixie. The rest of the team finally understood, and let out their own cheers. Scott rolled his eyes and went to go find Jean, who had gone with Jamie to register at the middle school. Hank grinned and opened the box, which was full of the bubble wrap coverings. Soon, the popping sound of bubble wrap could be heard all over the Mansion. All of the kids were laughing with child-like joy, dancing around and acting about three years old.  
Eventually, all the little air pockets had been popped, and all the mess had been cleaned up. Sierra began to go up to her room, but was stopped by a telepathic summons from Charles, to his office. She knocked lightly before pushing the door open. She took the seat he silently indicated, across the desk from him. She sat there as he just looked at her for a bit, studying her like a test subject in a lab that had grown a third ear or something.  
"I heard you had a run-in today," he finally said. She looked down and rubbed the back of her neck.  
"Let me guess, Evan told you," she muttered.  
"He was concerned for your safety. There is nothing wrong with that," he said gently.  
"Really Professor, I can take care of myself. It was okay." She was getting tired of everyone always either questioning her, her abilities or her motives, and manipulating her.  
"I understand that, Sierra, I really do. But, I have talked it over with Logan, Storm, Beast, Jean, and Scott, and we all agree; it would be best if you do not go to school, at least for a while." She sat there, soaking this information in. She was just starting to get angry when he spoke again. "This is not because of anything you've done. You simply have a habit of reacting with anger to any unknown situation, and this could be dangerous in a place where everything is unknown. Hank has told us that you dropped out of school after the sixth grade, and continued to educate yourself at home. He has also told us more of your abusive foster-father and you yourself have told us about Hydra taking you. I feel, _we_ feel, that until we are sure you will not pose a danger to yourself and other students, and your emotional issues have been worked through, you should remain here, and have Hank teach you." She leapt to her feet.  
"This is about my powers, isn't it? You're mad because I didn't tell you right away, so to punish me you're taking away my first chance at a normal life, in _years_!" she shouted. The Professor looked taken aback at the rage contorting her features. "Hank told you, didn't he?" she demanded, leaning across the desk towards him.  
"Told me what?" Charles inquired, keeping calm.  
"Where to hit me to make it hurt the most! He's the _only_ one I ever told that a normal life is all I want! He's the only one that knows I'm willing to do _anything_ to be normal again! You even turned him against me." The last part was whispered so quietly the Professor had to strain to hear it. Hank had warned him the girl might react with anger, but he had never expected this much of it. It practically rolled off of her in waves; so much even without his telepathic abilities. He had not expected the sadness, nor the betrayal, though. She didn't wait for him to respond, simply fled the room. There was a small group of students standing at the end of the hall, but they all did that have-to-act-natural-so-we-strike-the-most-unnatura l-pose-ever thing when she ran by. She pounded her way up to her room, collapsing on the floor with Antix as the tears started. All she wanted was the normal life she would never get. Was that too much to ask?

* * *

**Hey guys! I know I promised this for you like, a week ago, but...yeah...I have no excuse. I just was working on other stories, and generally putting this off. Sorry! But, anyway, you know the drill. Review! Please! Thanks guys! Love ya'll!  
-IceQueen2196**


	8. Introducing Me

Sierra stumbled out of her room, hair still dripping from her shower. She didn't talk to anyone as she ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, Antix bounding behind her. Without looking to the left or the right, she opened the fridge and pulled out a Gatorade and the container of leftover pizza from lunch the day before. Putting a few slices on a plate and popping it in the microwave, she leaned back against the counter and opened the bottle, taking a long drink.  
She let the mindless chatter of the others perforate her head, filling her thoughts with the white noise that helped her concentrate. Antix happily bounded from place to place, bits and pieces of breakfast getting dropped to him. She smiled, but it lacked humor or happiness.  
_At least he didn't suffer from my mistakes__,_ she thought wryly, watching his continued domination of the hearts, and plates, of everyone in the kitchen. He was just making his third round when Logan sauntered into the kitchen. Sierra had noticed that about him; he never walked anywhere, he sauntered. Like a freaking cowboy or something.  
"How's the arm?" he asked, grabbing a beer from the fridge and motioning to the limb. She had fallen on it wrong during training that morning, and it still hurt.  
"It's fine," she muttered, pulling her pizza from the microwave and carrying it to the small table in the window, Logan following with his drink.  
"Eat something," she said, looking at him. "I am not letting you have _a__nother_ beer with nothing else in your stomach."  
Logan might scare most of the students, but Sierra had learned that under his hard and engine-grease-covered exterior, he really was a half-way decent guy. Albeit one who loved his drinks. He growled in the back of his throat, got up, and grabbed a sausage link from the table, tearing into it in the manner of a feral predator.  
"Next time, keep your guard up and your center of gravity low," he grumbled as he sat back down, referring to her session. After their first session together, where he'd scared her to death, he'd taken to watching her train. This, of course, led to comments. He was always right, though.  
"No, next time, don't let myself get cornered by four hellhounds," she countered, taking a bite of her pizza. They ate, or in Logan's case, drank, the rest of their food in silence, watching the other kids in the kitchen. Hank came in and tried to bring some order to the hectic mess. He didn't last five minutes before he threw his hands up in the air in defeat, sighed, and walked out. Sierra couldn't help the scowl that took over her face when she saw him. She still hadn't forgiven him for the thing about school, the week before. She finished her food quickly and put her plate in the dishwasher, walking out surrounded in a bubble of silence.  
She walked into the living room just in time to hear Remy shout, "Remy don' care if you wan' to watch it or not, Remy was here first!" to a very angry-looking Amara, Kitty, and Tabitha.  
"But Remy! It's, like, _Warm Bodies_! We've only been waiting for, like, forever to see this!" Kitty shouted back, crossing her arms, stamping her foot, and pouting.  
"Remy don' care! Remy wanna watch Avengers!" he yelled back, crossing his arms, too.  
Sierra just rolled her eyes and walked around them, laying down on the couch with her legs hanging over the edge and her head propped on a bunch of pillows. She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, flipping to the movie she'd been wanting to see.  
"Hey!" Remy, Amara, Tabby, and Kitty shouted at the same time, peering over the back of the couch at her.  
"Hey," she said back, shifting so she was comfortable.  
"What are you doing?" Tabby demanded, hands on her hips.  
"Watching Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters," Sierra responded, turning up the volume. The other four just stared at her.  
"But we were here, like, first," Kitty whined. Sierra rolled her eyes.  
"Yah, but you were arguing, and the TV was open," she said, snuggling into the cushions. The other four just sighed in defeat and collapsed to the floor, crawling to the other couches and chairs in the room. After a suitable pile of pillows and cushions had been assembled on the floor, they flopped down, pushing and pulling the soft mass to make it more comfortable or provide a better view. They were being surprisably agreeable. Almost _too_ agreeable.  
Half-way through the movie, Evan walked past the door to the room.  
"Oh, hey! Sweet!" he said, coming in and flopping down on the couch- the same couch that Sierra was already laying on.  
"OOF!" she grunted, the air being knocked out of her. Evan's eyes widened and he rolled off the couch, onto the floor; and onto Amara's legs.  
"Hey!" Amara said, kicking him off- right onto Tabby.  
"Watch it!" Tabby shouted, booming him onto Kitty.  
By the time Evan had untangled himself from all of the girls, Remy was laughing so hard that he was in danger of passing out from lack of oxygen.  
"I am so sorry!" Evan stuttered, trying to back out fo the room. Of course, he didn't see Remy on the floor, laughing so hard it was now silent, behind him.  
"Watch-" all four girls began, but it was too late. He'd already tripped over Remy's rather vulerable form, and landed on his butt. This caused all the girls to join in Remy's laughter, and Evan to turn even redder.  
"Come on," Sierra said, walking over and hauling him back to his feet. "Let's get you where you can't do quite so much damage." She carefully steered him back to the couch, and sat him down.  
"Where are you gonna sit?" Evan asked, seeing how he had just taken up where her head had been on the couch.  
"Here," she replied, laying back down like she had before. Of course, now her head was on his lap, but neither of them was really _complaining_ about that fact.  
As the movie progressed, Evan began to absently run his fingers through Sierra's thick black hair, spreading it like a fan around her head. Remy finally calmed down enough to roll back onto his stomach and finish the movie, and the girls on the floor weren't paying any attention to the two on the couch; they were too busy drooling over Logan Lerman. So only Sierra noticed when Evan's hands slipped out of her hair, and started tracing light designs over the sensitive skin of her cheek, ear, behind her ear, and neck, dipping down to her collar bone occasionally. Even Evan didn't really notice that he was doing it, it just felt so natural to have Sierra's head in his lap like it was. It wasn't until Sierra shivered as he hit a particularly sensitive spot on her neck, just below her jaw, that he realized what he was doing.  
"Sorry dude!" he said, quickly pulling his hand back. She had to fight the urge to moan in frustration as his fingers lifted off of her skin, and he tried to find somewhere to put his hand that wasn't completely, totally, and utterly awkward. Sierra rolled her eyes, watching him flounder.  
"Here," she muttered, taking his hand and putting it on her flat stomach. She could feel Evan get tense as he realized where his hand actually was, and had to smile. "It's okay," she whispered to him, and watched him visibly relax. _Boys,_ she thought, rolling her eyes.  
They stayed like that until the movie was over, and Amara and Tabby started to clean up the pillows, while Remy went off to take something for the cramp he'd gotten from laughing. Sierra stretched her arms up and arched her back, causing Evan's hand to slip slightly lower. Of course, that _had_ to be the moment Kitty looked over and saw them, instantly taking in their positions and the motion of Evan's hand. Her eyes widened in horror as her mind jumped to conclusions.  
"You guys!" she shouted, getting the other two girls' attention. "Not in here!"  
"Not what, stretch? Or lay on the couch?" Sierra asked, not realizing how it had looked.  
"No, no feeling each other up in the middle of the living room!" she hissed, shooting them a look that was pretty much O_O'.  
"WHAAAAAT?!" they both shouted, leaping apart so fast Sierra tripped and landed sprawled on her stomach on the floor.  
"I would never-" Evan began at the same time that Sierra said, "Why the heck would I-" Kitty looked at them, and looked over at Amara and Tabby. All three cracked up, and Tabby had to use a chair to support her so she didn't join Sierra on the floor.  
"Hey, what's so funny?" Pietro asked, running in just then. Tabby instantly straightened and stopped laughing.  
"Hmm, what? Oh, nothing. Nothing's funny. We weren't laughing. What?" she asked, causing Sierra to snort.  
"Ummmmm...okay...Evan, just came to see if you wanna come shoot some hoops. We need one more player, and it'll give me a chance to wipe the floor with you like the pretty boy you are," he said, turning to the other boy, and letting a hint of their old rivalry into his invitation.  
"Sure. There's too much girliness in this room, anyway," Evan replied, walking out with Pietro. Sierra waited until they were gone to roll onto her back and point an accusing finger at Tabby.  
"You have a crush on Pietro!" she said, grinning.  
"Psshhhh, what? No," the other girl tried to fend off the accusations, but she was too flustered for it to work.  
"Tabby likes Maximoff, Tabby likes Maximoff," Sierra sing-songed, laughing. "Tabby likes Maximoff." Kitty and Amara joined in, causing Tabby to turn even redder.  
"I don't like Pietro!" Tabby shouted.  
"Wait, you like my brother?" Wanda asked, sticking her head in the door just then. "Really?" She came in and plopped down in one of the overstuffed chairs.  
"No!" Tabby shouted, looking ready to strangle someone.  
"You so do!" Sierra countered. It was then that she realized; they were talking to her. Talking _with_ her. Holy Batman, Doctor!  
"And what about you and Evan?" Tabby questioned, to get the attention off of herself. "You were practically doing the Big Nasty right here!"  
"Okay, one, I was stretching. Nothing more. Two, there is nothing going on between Evan and myself. And three, that 'big nasty' helped create you, so I wouldn't say it like it's the biggest crime against humanity ever committed. Because there would be no humanity if it weren't for that particular crime," Sierra tried to distract the other four girls.  
"Right. There is absolutely _nothing_ going on there. At all. Ever. In any way," Amara deadpanned.  
"Exactly!" Sierra said, choosing to ignore the sarcasm.  
"Wait. So spikes and pixie chick, and destruction personified and my brother?" Wanda spoke up from the chair. "Wow, how did I miss this?"  
"No!" Tabby and Sierra shouted together.  
"Trust me, there is _nothing_ between Evan and myself. I learned the hard way that relationships never lead to anything good," Sierra spoke up.  
"Hard way?" Kitty questioned.  
"Ever wondered about Alvers' life before you met him?" Kitty's face paled considerably. "Let's just say we have some...rough history, and leave it at that."  
"So, you and the Annoying One?" Wanda asked after a long moment, turning to face Tabby.  
"How many nicknames do you have for him?" she asked, looking at the older girl.  
"How much time do you have?" Wanda shot back.  
"Wait. Destruction personified?" Tabby looked outraged, but anyone who knew her would be able to tell it was just an act.  
"Have you seen before and after pictures of you living at the Brotherhood House?" Wanda asked, arching one eyebrow. She was most likely the only girl in the world that could do that particular trick.  
"She's not denying it!" Amara stage-whispered to Kitty and Sierra, grinning at the look Tabby shot her.  
"I have a session to get to, but one piece of advice, Tabitha. He lives life in the fast lane, and is always looking for some entertainment. Don't just be a distraction from what he's trying to not remember." With this sage advice, Wanda stood and walked out.  
"We are so setting you up on a double date," Amara informed Tabby as she put the last pillow back in place.  
"With who?" the blond shot back, throwing one of the pillows across the room at the Brazilian.  
"To quote Wanda, 'spikes and the pixie chick'," the darker skinned girl laughed as she and Kitty were chased from the room by Tabby, who was living up to 'Destruction Personified', in all of her explosive glory. Sierra chuckled and walked out of the living room, just in time to get bowled over by Antix, who was running full speed down the hall. For the umpteenth time that day, Sierra found herself on her butt, staring at the ceiling.  
"Watch out, coming through!" Bobby shouted from down the hall, running towards Sierra.  
"Hey!" she shouted, rolling to one side so she wouldn't get trampled. A fired up Roberto was running after Bobby, with Rahne running after him. She quickly flipped to her feet and followed them, trying to see what all the rush was about. She had learned that it was almost as rare for Bobby to be iced up, Roberto to be fired up, and Rahne to be wolfed up at the same time (excluding missions of course) as it was for Logan to actually smile. She had just reached the top of the stairs when she found a strip of Bobby's ice- with her foot. She slid forward, but it was too late to stop herself. For a second she was suspended in midair, then she started to fall. Some preservation instinct kicked in, and her wings started to flap. She was glad she had worn a tank top to free her wings as she landed heavily at the foot of the stairs.  
"Did you just fly?" Scott asked, coming out of the hall to the Professor's office.  
"I-I think so!" she said, grinning as she tried to inspect her wings over her shoulders. "Hank- I mean Beast- did say that flight could be a possibility now, but I never really tried it." She flapped her wings hesitantly, feeling how they pulled at the air. With a shrug at Scott, she sped up the flapping quite a bit. Maybe a bit too much, as she shot into the air and hit her head on the ceiling, hard, two and a half stories above, before spiraling back to the lobby floor. "Ouch."  
"Careful, there's a ceiling there!" Pyro laughed, walking through the room in time to witness the flight. Well, the trial flight.  
"Really?" Sierra asked sarcastically, climbing slowly to her feet. "Oh, dang. I think I gave myself a concussion."  
"Why do you say that?" Scott asked, coming over to check her for any outward signs of one.  
"I have the strong urge to tell you about my persuasion powers, thank the Professor for looking out for me and not let me go to school, then go out and play basketball. Oh, and everything's fuzzy and there're weird spots in my vision." Scott finished checking her over before her words really sank in.  
"Persuasion powers? School? Basketball? Come on, let's get you back to the infirmary; this is worse than I thought it was," Scott said, gently taking her by the arm and starting to lead her to the elevator.  
"Persuasion powers; my ability to convince people to do or not do something by concentrating hard on them. I think it's because of the similarities of brain synapses and the parts of plants I work with, at the atomic level. I dunno. I did it here, to make ya'll leave me alone my first day. But it didn't work on Jean. I dunno why, but she can't be persuaded. Shame, or it'd be really easy to convince her that I don't have a thing for you. School; an institution children between the ages of five and eighteen are required to attend, or get an education somehow. They usually include gross cafeteria food, and rude cliques. Basketball; a game in which ten players split into teams of two fight over an inflated rubber sphere," Sierra said, defining the words for Scott. Her way of speaking from her small hometown was returning the longer she spoke, and she started using words she swore she would never use again. _SHUT UP!_ she mentally screamed at herself, but her mouth made no move to stop, continuing to spout utter nonsense. And the secrets she didn't want anyone to know. _Okay, okay. Just stop talking. Stop. Talking. Stop. Stop. STOP!_ But it didn't stop. It just kept going, and going, and going. Scott got Hank and the Professor, and Sierra finally managed to shut herself up. _Professor?_ she asked, casting her mind in search of his. But she couldn't find it. And apparently he couldn't hear her either. She could hear the Professor probing inside her head, and could hear him asking if she was okay, but it sounded like it was coming from down an echo tunnel. She couldn't hear her responses, but the Professor quickly withdrew from her mind.  
"I fear she has done more damage than we originally thought," he said to Hank. They set her up to get her comfortable, and Hank ran off to get something from his lab. Knowing him, it was likely more of the healing serum he'd given her for her wings.  
Just as Hank walked back into the room, another girl appeared behind him, and walked over to the side of the bed Scott had put Sierra in. She had deep sapphire blue skin with silver freckles, twinkling cat eyes, long fang-like canines, and a flat, feline nose. Her ears were pointed, with tufts of fur coming out the end, and could move, like a cat's ears. Her black hair was long, down to the middle of her thighs, and thick as a lion's mane. Sierra knew she was hiding wings behind herself.  
_"Oh, was I not supposed to tell them all those things?"_ the girl asked condescendingly, stroking the side of Sierra's face. _"Oops, my bad."_ She smiled and winked.  
_"You! No! Andy said you would never come back!"_ Sierra screamed inside her head, knowing the other girl could hear her. The telepath had helped her when she had been a captive of Hydra, to keep this girl locked up inside her mind.  
_"Yes. But then you were so kind as to knock out the barriers that held me captive, and here I am!"_ the girl said. _"Now, all you have to do is accept me as a part of you, and I'll be gone."  
"Never! If I accept you, you'll gain control of me. And I vowed to never let that happen. Never again,"_ Sierra snarled.  
_"Look at Hank. He had a monster inside of him, and he accepted it. Now they both peacefully co-exist inside his body. Would that be so bad?"_ Sierra could hear the honeyed tones of the girl's voice, and felt her heart speed up in anger. She was trying to use persuasion; on _herself_!  
_"Yes! You're still mad at Alvers for playing you- me, us, whatever!- and you and I both know we'll destroy him. Then we'll go after Dave. Then the metal master that made our skeletons, and most likely then all of Hydra. You don't have that kind of power, and neither do I. And don't try to persuade me to your side, it won't work."  
"Fine. You force me to do something I really don't want to do. But really, you left me no choice."_ And with these words, the girl pressed her hand into Sierra's face, letting it sink in up to her wrist. Then the rest of her seemed to be sucked into Sierra's body. Hank and the Professor hastily backed up as Sierra's skin turned deep blue, the only silver left in the freckles on her face. Her ears changed and rotated, turning much more cat-like, as did her nose. Her nails grew out, turning into retractable feline claws. When the new Sierra blinked open her eyes, something had changed in them. Now there was a hard light, a dangerous light, in her eyes. She sat up, then stood. The transformation had affected her legs, too, and now they were corded with even more muscle. Sapphire grinned, looking down at her body, which had replaced Sierra's.  
"Mmm, finally. Some freedom," she said, stretching out her arms and looking herself up and down in the mirror on the wall. "Not bad, not bad," she said, appraising her body. Her voice was deeper, and had a wild quality to it, yet it also flowed like a song. It was a strange, exotic, haunting melody to it.  
"Sierra? Are you alright?" Hank asked, stepping forward.  
"Oh, my dear, confused Mr. McCoy. I am not Sierra. Sierra is gone," the girl said, stepping forward. "You may call me Sapphire." Then she swept lightly out of the room, brushing past the two men, and Scott, who was standing right outside the door. Sapphire smiled, accessing Sierra's memories. "Perfect," she muttered to herself, finding the way to Sierra's room.  
_"No!"_ Sierra screamed over and over, but now she was heard by no one as Sapphire ignored her.  
_"Trapped,"_ Sapphire gloated. _"Just like I was, all those years. Now, to change into something fitting of a woman of my stature, then to find Alvers."__  
"You know, most psychiatrists would find it interesting that you talk to yourself. Do you also find yourself feeling like a different person? Or multiple people?" _Sierra spoke up.  
_"Silence, you impudent peasant!"_ Sapphire roared, actually clenching her fists.  
_"That is no way to speak to yourself. You should have more self-respect,"_ Sierra replied, taking the tone common to therapists.  
_"YOU LITTLE-"_ Sapphire started, but cut herself off. _"Clever. Keep me angry and you control me. Get me angry enough, and my control might slip. Nice try. But anything you can think of, I can think of too."_ Then they reached Sierra's room, which Sapphire looked around with distaste. "Well, it will have to do for now," she mused out loud, walking over to the closet. Ororo had bought Sierra several new outfits, in several different styles, as she wasn't sure what Sierra would like. "Perfect!" Sapphire cried, seeing a particular outfit. She changed quickly, then inspected herself in the mirror in the bathroom. A black silk cami, and black skinny jeans tucked into knee-high brown leather boots composed the outfit, along with a thick silver arm band around her bicep. She grinned as she pulled her wings up and into a flight position. They were the same basic shape as Sierra's wings, simply repeated, creating a half-circle of stretched teardrops protruding from her back. Sapphire brushed her long black hair, and quickly put it in a French fishtail braid, so it wouldn't get in her way as she flew. "Now, for Alvers," she snarled, stalking out of the bathroom. She walked all the way down the hall before she lifted off. Flying so her toes barely skimmed the carpet, she zipped down the halls, back to the lobby.  
"You!" she shouted, pointing at Todd, who happened to have the misfortune of hopping through at that moment. "Where can I find Lance Alvers?"  
"I think he's out back, playing basketball. And may I say, you look fine today," he responded, sitting back on his heels to look at her gracefully float down the stairs.  
"You may, but flattery will get you no where," Sapphire responded. _"Scum,"_ she added inside her head.  
_"Hey! Be nice to him!"_ Sierra said. _Am I really defending _Todd Tolansky_?_ she questioned herself a moment later. Sapphire ignored her, and floated her way out to the basketball court outside. Just as Todd had said, Lance was there, playing ball with Pietro, Evan, Bobby, Ray, Rahne, Roberto, and Kurt.  
"Alvers!" Sapphire shouted, rising to hover four feet above the ground. "I told you I'd be back." Lance glanced up at this point, and dropped the ball he'd just stolen from Kurt. He hadn't expected this; Sierra'd spent so much time avoiding him he'd almost been able to forget she was an X-Man now.  
"Sierra, this isn't funny," he said, his voice shaking slightly. "Seriously Sierra, knock it off. Joke's over."  
"Oh, it's too late, _lieb_," Sapphire said, using her old nickname for Lance, from when he and Sierra had been together. "Sierra's gone. Poor dear, didn't listen to me when I told her you were no good. Of course, it took getting arrested and letting me take over for a little bit to convince her. So loyal to you, the poor pathetic dear. It's only me now. And _I'm_ not afraid to give you what you deserve." She rose to roughly three stories high, and held her hands in front of her, watching as a pale green fire formed around her fingers.  
"Sapphire, stop! I'm sorry!" Lance said, cowering below her. The others had backed up, unsure of what was happening, or what they were supposed to do.  
"It's too late, Lance. Too late for 'I'm sorry's and apologies!" She shot a thin beam of green flames at him, burning the arm he threw up to protect his face. "Hmm, funny thing about my powers. Wonderful for plants, coaxing them to grow and bend to my will. But not so good for humans," Sapphire mused, shooting more beams at Lance. The others leapt into action; Bobby built an ice wall between Sapphire and Lance, and the others started to attack. Evan shot spikes, Roberto shot fireballs, Ray shot his beams, Pietro ran back and forth, making winds to knock Sapphire around, Rahne crouched behind the ice wall with Lance, and Kurt teleported inside to get help. Sapphire accessed Sierra's memories again, and aimed at the weak points of the kids on the ground, quickly picking them off one-by-one as she ducked and dodged the projectiles being fired at her, and riding Pietro's wind.  
_"No!"_ Sierra shouted, feebly trying to regain control of her body. _"Stop! You're hurting them!"_  
"That's the point you nitwit! Just locking you up isn't enough, you have to watch your friends pay for your stupidity!" Sapphire shouted aloud, causing the people on the ground to look up at her in confusion. She took careful aim at one of the figures who was trying to stand again, and fired a strong beam, directly into his back. Evan felt like he was getting shot point-blank between his shoulder blades.  
_"EVAN!"_ Sierra shouted. With one final shove against the mind holding her own in a steel grip, Sierra pushed herself out. But instead of Sapphire disappearing and Sierra reappearing, like she had thought would happen, Sierra found herself falling, looking up at Sapphire hovering above her, still shooting at Evan. She spun so she was facing the ground, preparing for impact. But her wings had a mind of their own, and began to flap again, like they had in the lobby earlier. She was jolted as her fall came to an abrupt stop, and she shot up, slowing her wings to hover at the same height as Sapphire.  
"Y-you can't do that!" the darker girl shouted, staring in horror at the lighter girl hovering in front of her. "You need me to survive!" Sierra looked down at herself.  
"Looks like I don't. Now, _leave my friends alone!_" she shouted, creating her own green fire and shooting it at Sapphire. But, for some reason, the best Sierra could do was a few feeble sparks, and she could feel herself losing altitude.  
"You do need me," Sapphire gloated. "Without me, you're just a normal human being! No powers, nothing to make you special. Without me, you're just. Like. Everyone. Else." And with these final words, Sapphire turned and flew off. "Ta-ta, loser. I'll be back!" she called over her shoulder, as Sierra landed on the ground, looking after her. She spun around to find the entire population of the mansion staring at her.  
"I-I-" she began, but was cut off by Evan.  
"Sierra! Your wings!" he shouted, from where he was still laying on the ground from Sapphire's shot. The girl turned anxiously, looking over her shoulder at her wings. Or, where her wings should be. She held up her hands, and looked at the distinctly non-silver skin. Her hands flew to her face, and she ran over to a window, using her reflection to look at her eyes. Her human eyes. Even her freckles were back. She looked at her reflection more, looking for anything abnormal on herself. She couldn't find anything. She was completely and utterly...  
"Human," she whispered, looking at her hands again. "I'm human."

* * *

**Disclaimer: X-Men: Evolution, characters, yada yada yada: not mine. Sapphire and Sierra: yes mine.**

**Hi guys! Sorry about the late update, and- You! Hey you! Yes, you with the pitchfork getting ready to run me through. Put it down. Put. It. Down. Good person.- everything.  
Tomorrow, I begin once again the institution commonly referred to as 'school', so updates will slow down. Or not, because let's face it, I'm not the most punctual with updates.  
Please review, it helps me remember that people are actually reading this, which makes me want to write more, which gets you chapters faster. And seriously, guys. I'm on to you! Over 1,000 views, and what, 8 reviews? No. This is annoying. I know you all have comments, and flames are welcome. So I don't get why I have four digits in my views, yet not even two in my reviews. Thanks guys, this is a real confidence booster. Ugh. Okay, I think I'm calm now. Love ya'll!**

**-IceQueen2196**


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